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1992-03-05
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The TriTel Bulletin Board System
Version 2.1
Copyright (c) 1991-1992 By Mark D. Goodwin
COPYRIGHT NOTICE
----------------
TriTel is a copyrighted program being distributed under the
shareware concept. As such, you may operate a TriTel Bulletin
Board System for a period of 30 days without registering the
software. After the 30 day evaluation period, you must register
your copy of TriTel or you will be in violation of United States
and International copyright laws.
As a shareware program, TriTel may be freely distributed through
a BBS. Shareware distributors may distribute copies of TriTel on
disk for a modest disk duplication charge not to exceed $6 per
disk.
WARRANTY
--------
TriTel is distributed without warranty. In no event will Mark
Goodwin be liable to you for damages, including any loss of
profits, lost savings, or other incidental or consequential
damages arising out of your use of or inability to use the
program, even if Mark Goodwin or an authorized representative has
been advised of the possibility of such damages. Mark Goodwin
will not be liable for any such claim by any other party.
TRADEMARKS
----------
IBM is a registered trademark of IBM Corporation
Microsoft, MS, and MS-DOS are registered trademarks of Microsoft
Corporation
The TriTel Bulletin Board System i
TABLE OF CONTENTS
-----------------
INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
REQUIREMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
INSTALLATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Modifying BOARD.BAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Getting TriTel to Run on Boot Up . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
The Menu Configuration Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Your First Log On . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
THE WAITING FOR CALLER SCREEN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
The Waiting for Caller Screen Menu . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Drop to DOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Configure Node . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Edit Conferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Local Logon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Edit Users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Edit Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Configure System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Edit File Areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
View Callers Log . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Exit TriTel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
The Modem Status Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
The Statistics Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Screen Blanking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
DISPLAY SCREENS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Control Codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
@-Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Log On and Goodbye Screens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Security Specific Log On Screens . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
User Specific Log On Screens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
New User Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Bulletin Menu and Bulletins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Main Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Message Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
File Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Upload Screens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Download Screens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Door Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Door Bulletin Menu and Door Bulletins . . . . . . . . . 36
Questionnaire Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Sysop Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
List of Conferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
List of File Areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Chat Screens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Log On Related Screens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Making Your Own Display Screens . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
THE TRITEL MENU SYSTEM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
The TriTel Bulletin Board System ii
The Bulletin Menu Configuration File . . . . . . . . . . 39
The Main Menu Configuration File . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
The Message Menu Configuration File . . . . . . . . . . 44
The File Menu Configuration File . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
The Door Menu Configuration File . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
The Door Bulletin Menu Configuration File . . . . . . . 57
The Questionnaire Menu Configuration File . . . . . . . 59
The Sysop Menu Configuration File . . . . . . . . . . . 62
EXTENDABLE MENU COMMANDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
SPECIAL BATCH FILES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
NEWUSER.BAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
SECn.BAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
LOGON.BAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
UPLOAD.BAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
BETWEEN.BAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
FILE LISTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
File List Manager: FILEMAN.EXE . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
EXTERNAL PROTOCOLS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Send Batch Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Receive Batch Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
RUNNING TRITEL WITH A FRONTEND OR AS A DOOR . . . . . . . . . 75
Error Correcting Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Limiting Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Forced Hang Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
ARCHIVE TESTING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
ODDS AND ENDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Obnoxious Callers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Daily Limits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Special Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Quick Logon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
File Flagging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Packing the Message Base . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
The TriTel Protocol Driver: TTPROT.EXE . . . . . . . . . 81
MULTINODES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Doors and Multinodes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Some Helpful Hints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
SUPPORT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
REGISTRATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
FILE FORMATS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
SYSDAT1.DAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
SYSDAT2.DAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
The TriTel Bulletin Board System iii
NODE.DAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
USERS.DAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
USERS.IDX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
MCONF.DAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Mnnnn.PTR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Mnnnn.IDX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Mnnnn.TXT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Mnnnn.LMR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Mnnnn.WAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
FAREA.DAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Fnnnn.USR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
EVENTS.DAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
TRITEL.SYS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
LIST OF REGISTERED TRITEL BOARDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 1
INTRODUCTION
------------
TriTel is one of the newest Bulletin Board Systems around.
Although TriTel is a relatively new BBS, it comes equipped with
many powerful features:
Multinode Support - Although TriTel 2.1 is an excellent
single line bulletin board system, it fully supports
multinode operation. Unlike many other bulletin board
systems, you do not have to pay extra for a multinode
system. So when your board is ready to expand, TriTel will
easily grow along with you at no additional cost.
Zmodem - Not many other bulletin board systems can claim
this one. By offering Zmodem as a part of TriTel, the sysop
is relieved from having to set it up as an external
protocol.
Full Screen Editor - In addition to an excellent line
editor, TriTel features a complete full screen editor to
make message entry as easy as possible.
Net Mail - TriTel's message base structure provides
extensive support for net mail conferences. Netmail
converters are available for Fido<->TriTel, PCRelay<-
>TriTel, and QWK<->TriTel. Although these converters are an
optional part of TriTel and not included in the TriTel BBS
archive, they a readily available for download on any TriTel
support board and are supplied free of charge to all TriTel
sysops.
Doors - TriTel can internally generate the door data files
to run most PCBoard, GAP (DOOR.SYS), Spitfire, WildCat, and
RBBS doors. By supporting these five major standards,
TriTel can run pretty much any door program. By generating
the door data files internally, TriTel relieves the sysop
from setting up a collection of door data file conversion
utilities.
Archive Testing - TriTel allows you to optionally test
all uploaded archives, EXEs, and COMs to see if they
were uploaded without error and scan them for viruses.
One of TriTel's chief design goals is ease of installation and
maintenance. Some of the above listed features, such as Zmodem
and internal generation of door data files, have already pointed
out some of the reasons why TriTel is so easy to use. Other
TriTel features include generation of security level specific
menu screens on the fly and the ability to run an almost
unlimited number of sliding and nonsliding events. Overall, you
should find TriTel to be one of the easiest bulletin board
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 2
systems to set up and maintain.
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 3
REQUIREMENTS
------------
TriTel requires an IBM PC or compatible computer with at least
512K of memory, a modem, and a hard disk drive. Although it
would be possible to set up a small TriTel BBS on a floppy disk
based system, it really wouldn't be of much practical use.
Therefore, a floppy disk based TriTel board is not recommended
and is not supported.
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 4
INSTALLATION
------------
The first step in using any computer program is to install it.
You probably acquired your copy of TriTel from a BBS or online
service and have obviously uncompressed the file archive. The
next step you must take is to make a TriTel subdirectory on your
hard disk. If your hard disk is your C: drive, you could do this
by entering the following at the DOS command prompt:
MD C:\TRITEL
Next you should copy all of the files that were included in the
TriTel archive to this new subdirectory. This can be
accomplished with the following command:
COPY *.* \TRITEL
Now you can delete the TriTel archive files in your current
directory by entering the following command:
DEL *.*
IMPORTANT: Be sure there aren't any other non-TriTel files in
your current directory before you enter the above command. If
you don't check for other files, you will lose them. If there
are other non-TriTel files in your current directory, you will
have to delete the TriTel files one at a time.
The next step is to change to the newly created TriTel directory.
This can be done with the following command:
CD \TRITEL
Now you must initialize your TriTel BBS by running the file
BBS.EXE. To do this, you simply enter the following at the DOS
prompt:
BBS
IMPORTANT: If your modem uses another port other than COM1, you
must start TriTel with the following command:
BBS /Cport
Where "port" is the number of your modem's serial port. For
example, a TriTel system that will be using a modem hooked up to
COM2 would need to be initialized with the following command:
BBS /C2
IMPORTANT: If your modem can't support at least 2400 baud, you
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 5
must start TriTel with the following command:
BBS /Bbaud
Where "baud" is your modem's highest baud rate. For example, a
TriTel system that will be using a 1200 baud modem would need to
be initialized with the following command:
BBS /B1200
You can of course combine the /C and /B command line switches.
For example, a system with a 300 baud (YUCK!!!) modem hooked up
to COM3 would use one of the following commands:
BBS /C3 /B300 or BBS /B300 /C3
If everything went ok, you should now see TriTel's Waiting for
Caller screen. This screen presents you with 10 menu options.
At this time, you should use the arrow keys to position the
double-lined box around the "Exit TriTel" option. Once the
double-lined box is around the "Exit TriTel" option, simply press
<ENTER> (For the rest of this manual, a keyboard key is indicated
by surrounding it with <>.) and you will be returned to the DOS
prompt.
By running TriTel in this fashion, TriTel has created two system
data files (SYSDAT1.DAT and SYSDAT2.DAT), a node data file
(NODE.DAT), and five subdirectories off your main TriTel
directory. These five subdirectories are named MWORK, NWORK,
DISPLAY, TRANSFER, and TTTEMP. If your main TriTel directory is
C:\TRITEL, you should now have the five subdirectories:
C:\TRITEL\MWORK, C:\TRITEL\NWORK, C:\TRITEL\DISPLAY,
C:\TRITEL\TRANSFER, and C:\TRITEL\TTTEMP. TriTel creates these
five subdirectories to maintain the BBS. The MWORK directory
holds the user data file, the message conferences,
questionnaires, answers to questionnaires, the callers log, and a
few other data files. The NWORK directory holds the menu
configuration files, event data files, and temporary caller logs.
The DISPLAY directory holds display screens: log on screens,
goodbye screen, bulletins, door bulletins, custom menu screens,
etc. The TRANSFER directory is used to temporarily hold files
during file transfers. The TTTEMP directory is used by TriTel to
hold transient files and data.
Modifying BOARD.BAT
-------------------
The next step in getting a minimal TriTel system up and running
is to make any necessary modifications to a batch file called
BOARD.BAT. Although TriTel will run by simply executing BBS.EXE
at the DOS prompt, it will not be able to properly run events and
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 6
doors without being executed by BOARD.BAT. Consequently, you
should always start up your BBS by entering the following at the
DOS prompt:
BOARD
As we said though, BOARD.BAT may need to be modified. The
following is a listing of BOARD.BAT:
echo off
cd \tritel
if exist door.bat del door.bat
if exist event.bat del event.bat
if exist endbbs del endbbs
bbs
if exist door.bat door
if exist event.bat event
if exist endbbs goto end
board
:end
Note how the second line of BOARD.BAT changes the current
directory to the TriTel BBS's main directory. If your TriTel
setup uses a different directory other than "\tritel", you will
have to use some type of a text editor to make the appropriate
change.
Getting TriTel to Run on Boot Up
--------------------------------
You will want your TriTel system to automatically start up
whenever your computer reboots. This can be accomplished by
performing two simple modifications to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file.
First of all, you should modify or create a SET PATH or PATH
command to include your main TriTel directory. At the end of
your AUTOEXEC.BAT file, you should put the command BOARD. That
way DOS will automatically run TriTel each time the computer is
rebooted. The following is a sample AUTOEXEC.BAT file before it
has been modified to automatically start up TriTel:
@ECHO OFF
PROMPT $p$g
PATH C:\DOS;C:\WINDOWS;C:\QEMM;C:\ZIP
The following is the same AUTOEXEC.BAT file after the appropriate
changes have been made to it for TriTel:
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 7
@ECHO OFF
PROMPT $p$g
PATH C:\TRITEL;C:\DOS;C:\WINDOWS;C:\QEMM;C:\ZIP
BOARD
Note how the PATH command in line three was modified and how
BOARD was added to the end of the batch file.
IMPORTANT: Starting with version 2.1, TriTel uses TTPROT.EXE to
perform file transfers. TTPROT is included with TriTel and must
be placed in a directory that is in your DOS PATH statement. If
you put TTPROT in your main TriTel directory and have modified
your AUTOEXEC.BAT file as per the above instructions, TriTel will
be able to call TTPROT as needed. Failure to put TTPROT's
directory in your PATH statement will result in file transfers
being constantly aborted.
If everything has been done properly, TriTel should start up
automatically after a reboot. So let's give it a try and press
RESET. After a few seconds, you should see the TriTel Waiting
for Caller screen. If you don't, you should go back and check
both BOARD.BAT and AUTOEXEC.BAT for errors. It will probably be
something really simple.
The Menu Configuration Files
----------------------------
Only one last step and TriTel should be all set to run as a
minimal system. If you are still at the TriTel's Waiting for
Caller screen, exit from TriTel by selecting the "Exit TriTel"
menu option. You should now be returned to the DOS prompt and
should be in the main TriTel directory. If DOS isn't in the main
TriTel directory, recheck your BOARD.BAT file to see if the
change directory command in line two was changed properly.
TriTel uses a series of menu configuration files to generate menu
displays on the fly. If you do a directory listing of your main
TriTel directory, you will note that TriTel came with a number of
files with the extension of MNU. These are the menu
configuration files and must be placed in your NWORK subdirectory
for TriTel to function properly. Moving these files to the NWORK
subdirectory and deleting them from main TriTel directory can be
accomplished with the following two commands:
COPY *.MNU NWORK
DEL *.MNU
Your First Log On
-----------------
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 8
You can now finally log on as a new user. Simply enter BOARD at
the DOS prompt to restart TriTel. After the Waiting for Caller
screen appears and the modem has been initialized, move the
double-lined border to the "Local Logon" menu option and select
it by pressing <ENTER>. This option will log you on to the BBS
and takes the phone off the hook. The screen should now clear
and the following will be displayed:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
CONNECT LOCAL / 12-02-91 (15:48)
Welcome to Unnamed BBS - Node 1.
A TriTel BBS 2.1 Bulletin Board System
Copyright (c) 1991-1992 By Mark D. Goodwin
Your Sysop is Joe Sysop.
Registration Number: Unregistered!!!!!
Do you want ANSI color graphics (y/N)?
-----------------------------------------------------------------
This display simply displays that a local connection was made,
the name of the board, Unnamed BBS, and node number; that it's a
TriTel 2.1 BBS; a copyright notice; the sysop's name, Joe Sysop;
and it's an "Unregistered!!!!!" board. The board's name and the
sysop's name can be changed quite simply. We'll discuss how it's
done in the next section. As for a registration number, you'll
have to register your board to get rid of "Unregistered!!!!!".
(Hint, Hint)
You will also note that TriTel is prompting you as to whether or
not you want ANSI color graphics or not. If you have a color
monitor, you will probably want to respond affirmatively by
pressing <Y>. If you don't have a color monitor or just simply
do not want a color display, respond "No" by pressing either the
<N> or the <ENTER> key. Note how the prompt has the "N"
capitalized. This indicates that TriTel will consider pressing
<ENTER> as the same as pressing <N>. So whenever you see a
similar TriTel prompt, you will know that pressing <ENTER> will
perform the same action as pressing the capitalized key.
After selecting the appropriate color choice, TriTel will prompt
you to enter your name as follows:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Enter your FIRST and LAST name:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 9
Simply type your name and press <ENTER>. Because this is your
first log on, TriTel will display the following:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Enter your FIRST and LAST name: Mark Goodwin
Searching user records for Mark Goodwin.
<G>oodbye, <R>eenter name, or <N>ew User?
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Because you are a "new user", you should press <N>. If you
weren't a new user, you could either "reenter name" by pressing
<R> or say "goodbye" by pressing <G>.
TriTel will now prompt you for a password as follows:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Enter your password (1 to 15 chars.):
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Simply type in a password and press <ENTER>. IMPORTANT: Be sure
that you use a unique password for your system. If somebody
finds out what you password is, it is possible for them to make
extensive modifications to your BBS. So be careful with your
password.
TriTel will now ask if you entered your password correctly as
follows:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Enter your password (1 to 15 chars.): install
Is Install correct (Y,n)?
-----------------------------------------------------------------
If your password is correct, press either <Y> or <ENTER>. If it
is incorrect, press <N> and TriTel will once again prompt you for
your password. The main reason for allowing you to reenter a
password is because a remote user may get hit with line noise and
not realize that his desired password wasn't entered properly.
After entering your password correctly, TriTel will prompt you
for your city and state as follows:
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 10
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Enter your City, State:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
After entering your city and state, TriTel will give you the
opportunity to change it as follows:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Enter your City, State: Bangor, ME
Is Bangor, Me correct (Y,n)?
-----------------------------------------------------------------
TriTel continues this process by asking for your phone number and
date of birth as follows:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Enter your phone number ###-###-####:
Enter your phone number ###-###-####: 207-941-0805
Is 207-941-0805 correct (Y,n)? Yes
Enter your date of birth MM/DD/YY:
Enter your date of birth MM/DD/YY: 10/19/56
Is 10/19/56 correct (Y,n)?
-----------------------------------------------------------------
After entering your date of birth, TriTel will prompt you to
select a default protocol as follows:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
<X> Xmodem
<K> Xmodem-1K
<Y> Ymodem
<G> Ymodem-G
<Z> Zmodem
<N> No Default
Please select a default protocol:
----------------------------------------------------------------
Simply select the default file transfer protocol you would like
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 11
to use when calling your board remotely. If you don't want to
set a default protocol, press <N>. By selecting "No Default",
TriTel will prompt you to select a protocol before each file
transfer.
After selecting a default protocol, TriTel will prompt you to
select a default editor as follows:
---------------------------------------------------------------
<L> Line Editor
<F> Full Screen Editor
<N> No Default
Please select a default editor:
---------------------------------------------------------------
Simply select the default editor you would like to use. By
selecting "No Default", TriTel will prompt you to select an
editor before entering each message if you have ANSI graphics
enabled.
Because your system doesn't have any bulletins yet, the following
will be displayed:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
There are no bulletins available today!
-----------------------------------------------------------------
If there were any bulletins, you would have been presented with
TriTel's bulletin menu. Instead, TriTel continues on by
displaying the main menu with the following selections:
<B>..Bulletin Menu <Y>..Your Personal Information
<M>..Message Menu <I>..System Information
<F>..File Menu <U>..List of Users
<C>..Comment to Sysop <X>..Expert Mode
<A>..Toggle ANSI Graphics Mode <P>..Page Sysop
<N>..Newsletter <G>..Goodbye
For the most part, TriTel's main menu is its gateway to other
areas of interest. You will also see the following prompt:
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 12
-----------------------------------------------------------------
You have been on 9 minutes with 51 remaining.
Enter Selection - [B M F C A N Y I U X P G ?]?
-----------------------------------------------------------------
At this point, you will want to log off your BBS by pressing <G>.
Before logging off, TriTel will give you a final chance to change
your mind as follows:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Are you sure you want to log off (Y/n)?
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 13
THE WAITING FOR CALLER SCREEN
-----------------------------
Other than being pretty colorful, TriTel's Waiting for Caller
screen allows the sysop to perform a great deal of board
maintenance without even having to log on to the board. Indeed,
certain configuration information can only be changed by some of
the Waiting for Caller screen options. The Waiting for Caller
screen is divided into three major parts.
The Waiting for Caller Screen Menu
----------------------------------
The top portion of the screen is the Waiting for Caller menu and
allows you to select one of the following ten options:
Drop to DOS
Configure Node
Edit Conferences
Local Logon
Edit Users
Edit Events
Configure System
Edit File Areas
View Callers Log
Exit TriTel
As you already know from installing TriTel, a menu option is
selected by moving the double-lined border to the desired option
and pressing <ENTER>. Each of these ten menu options will now be
explained one at a time.
Drop to DOS
-----------
The "Drop to DOS" menu option will temporarily shell out to DOS
and allow you to enter DOS commands. You can return to TriTel by
simply entering EXIT at the DOS command prompt. You should note
that TriTel takes the phone off the hook when the "Drop to DOS"
menu option is selected and will put it back on the hook when you
return from DOS. This will give any callers a BUSY signal while
you are shelled out to DOS.
Configure Node
---------------
The "Configure Node" menu option allows you to change the modem's
configuration information. Besides providing a means to
configure your modem, the "Configure Node" menu option provides
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 14
the means to configure a number of other node-related features.
It will display a dialog box with the following fifteen items:
<A> Serial Port: 1
Pressing <A> allows you to toggle through your
machine's valid serial ports until you come to the
desired port. COM1 is the default.
<B> Init String: ATS0=0Q0E0M0V1H0S2=43X1^M
Pressing <B> allows you to change the modem's
initialization string. The above initialization string
is TriTel's default initialization string and should
work with most modems. If your modem doesn't answer
correctly, you should consult your modem's manual to
determine what changes may be necessary to the above
initialization string. Any control characters are
indicated by using the format ^character. The
initialization string must end with a ^M control
character. Although you can change the above string to
suit your needs, you shouldn't modify S0=0 (this
instructs your modem NOT to automatically answer a
call), Q0 (this instructs your modem to display result
codes), V1 (this instructs your modem to use verbal
result codes), H0 (this instructs your modem to put the
phone on the hook), S2=43 (this tells your modem the
escape sequence character). Additionally, you should
insure that you use X1 or greater for result codes.
Otherwise, CONNECT codes aren't returned by the modem.
You should note that you can specify a modem
initialization string by using a "/I" command line
switch. Simply follow "/I" with the initialization
string while executing BBS.EXE.
<C> Init Baud Rate: 2400
Pressing <C> allows you to specify your modem's highest
baud rate. The default is 2400 baud.
<D> Error Correct Message: ARQ
Pressing <D> allows you to specify your modem's error
correcting connection message. If you have an error
correcting modem and a caller connects with another
error correcting modem, your modem will pass a message
to TriTel in the CONNECT string indicating that it is
an error correcting connection. Most modem's use ARQ
to indicate an error correcting connection.
Accordingly, TriTel uses ARQ as its default. If your
modem uses a different error correcting connection
string, you should specify the appropriate string.
Many MNP modems use REL instead of ARQ. If you modem
isn't an error correcting modem, you don't have to
worry about even setting this.
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 15
<E> Lock Serial Port: No
Pressing <E> toggles TriTel's "Lock Serial Port" flag.
If this flag is set to "Yes", TriTel will keep the
serial port at your modem's highest baud rate upon
connection. If this flag is set to "No" (the default),
TriTel will adjust the serial port to match the baud
rate in the CONNECT message. Locking a serial port is
only necessary for most error correcting modems.
<F> Hardware Data Flow: No
Pressing <F> toggles TriTel's "Hardware Data Flow"
flag. If this flag is set to "Yes", TriTel will use
hardware data flow control. If this flag is set to
"No" (the default), TriTel won't use hardware data flow
control. Hardware data flow control is only necessary
for most error correcting modems.
<G> 1/10 Sec. Delay For ATA: 5
Pressing <G> allows you to specify the tenths of a
second TriTel will wait after receiving a RING message
and before sending an ATA command to answer the call.
Allowable values are from 5 to 20. The default is 5
tenths of a second.
<H> Number of Rings Before ATA: 1
Pressing <H> allows you to specify the number of RING
messages TriTel should wait for before sending the ATA
command. The default is 1 RING message.
<I> 300 Baud Callers Allowed: Yes
Pressing <I> toggles the 300 baud caller flag. If this
flag is set to "Yes" (the default), TriTel will allow
300 baud callers on this node. If this flag is set to
"No", TriTel will not allow 300 baud callers on this
node.
<J> 1200 Baud Callers Allowed: Yes
Pressing <J> toggles the 1200 baud caller flag. If
this flag is set to "Yes" (the default), TriTel will
allow 1200 baud callers on this node. If this flag is
set to "No", TriTel will not allow 1200 baud callers on
this node.
<K> Page Bell: Off
Pressing <K> toggles the page bell on and off. If this
flag is set to "On", TriTel will allow this node's
callers to page the sysop. If this flag is set to
"Off" (the default), TriTel will not allow this node's
callers to page the sysop.
<L> Direct Screen Writes: Yes
Pressing <L> toggles the direct screen write flag. If
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 16
this flag is set to "Yes" (the default), TriTel will
write directly to the video display. If this flag is
set to "No", TriTel will use the ROM BIOS to write to
the video display. You should only select "No" if you
have a really old video display and it exhibits a lot
of snow as characters are displayed on the screen.
<M> Use Node DISPLAY Dir: No
Pressing <M> toggles the node display directory flag.
Under multinode operation this flag controls where
TriTel will look for display screens. If this flag is
set to "Yes", TriTel will use the display screens
located in the node's DISPLAY directory. If this flag
is set to "No" (the default), TriTel will use the
display screens located in node 1's DISPLAY directory.
This flag has no effect under single node operation.
<N> Node Security Level: 0
Pressing <N> allows you to specify the node's minimum
log on security level. If the caller doesn't have a
security level greater than or equal to the node
security level, he will be immediately logged off. The
default is 0, which will allow all callers to use the
node.
<O> Node Number: 1
Pressing <O> allows you to specify the node's node
number. This is automatically set by TriTel and should
only be changed if you are running a multinode system
and need to renumber one or more of your nodes because
you have deleted a node from the system.
After you have made any and all changes to your node's
configuration, you can return to the Waiting for Caller screen by
pressing <ESC>. Before returning to the Waiting for Caller
screen, TriTel will reinitialize the modem. This is necessary
for any changes to take effect. While you are using the
"Configure Node" dialog box, TriTel takes the phone off the hook.
The phone will be placed back on the hook as soon as you return
to the Waiting for Caller screen.
Edit Conferences
----------------
The "Edit Conferences" menu option allows you to add, edit, and
delete your message base conferences. It will display a menu
similar to the following:
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 17
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Message Conference Record Number 1 of 1
Conference Description.. : General
Conference Security..... : 10
Private Conference...... : No
Netmail Conference...... : No
Netmail Network......... :
User Message Deletion... : Allowed
Purge Msgs Older Than... : 30 days
Msg Pack Backup File.... : Yes
<M> Conference Description <+> Next Conference
<S> Conference Security <-> Previous Conference
<V> Private Toggle <R> Record Number
<N> Netmail Toggle <A> Add New Conference
<W> Network Name <I> Insert New Conference
<U> User Deletion <D> Delete Conference
<P> Old Message Purge <Q> Quit
<B> Backup Files
Enter Selection - [M S V N W U P B + - R A I D Q]?
-----------------------------------------------------------------
As you can see from this sample display, the "Edit Conferences"
menu presents you with the following 15 options:
<M> Conference Description
Pressing <M> allows you to change the message
conference's name.
<+> Next Conference
Pressing <+> will move the editor to the next message
conference.
<S> Conference Security
Pressing <S> allows you to set the conference's
security level. This is the minimum security level a
user must have in order to be allowed to access the
conference.
<-> Previous Conference
Pressing <-> will move the editor to the previous
message conference.
<V> Private Toggle
Pressing <V> will toggle the message conference's
private conference flag. If the conference is a
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 18
private conference, only users that you have
specifically given access will be allowed to access the
conference. You should note that a conference's
security level is not taken into account when granting
access to a private conference. If the user has access
privileges to a private conference, he will be able to
access the conference no matter what his security level
is. Even you as the sysop cannot access a private
conference unless you give yourself access. (See Edit
Users for details on how a user is granted access to a
private conference.)
<R> Record Number
Pressing <R> allows you to specify the message
conference to be edited. TriTel will prompt you for
the desired message conference's number.
<N> Netmail Toggle
Pressing <N> will toggle the message conference's net
mail flag. If the conference is a net mail conference,
users will be allowed to enter messages to a person who
isn't registered on your board. Furthermore, the user
will be asked whether or not the message will be ECHOed
or not. You should note the some net mail systems
ignore the ECHO flag and just go ahead and echo all
messages.
<A> Add New Conference
Pressing <A> adds a new message conference to your
board's message base. The new conference will be added
on to the end of any existing conferences.
<W> Network Name
If you have defined the conference as a netmail
conference, you may give it a name of the network (i.e.
FidoNet, RelayNet, Intelec, etc.), by pressing <W> and
entering the appropriate network name.
<I> Insert New Conference
Pressing <I> inserts a new message conference in your
board's message base. TriTel will prompt you to enter
the number of the message conference you want the new
message conference to come before.
<U> User Deletion
Pressing <U> will toggle the message conference's user
deletion flag. If user deletion is "Allowed", the user
will be able to delete messages that he has either sent
or are addressed to him. Otherwise, only a user with a
minimum sysop security level will be able to delete
messages from the conference.
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 19
<D> Delete Conference
Pressing <D> will delete the current conference.
TriTel will prompt you to confirm this request before
carrying it out.
<P> Old Message Purge
Pressing <P> allows you to specify the number of days
TRIPACK is to keep messages for. TRIPACK is the TriTel
message base packer and will be discussed in a later
section of this manual. After pressing <P>, TriTel
will prompt you for the number of days the conference's
messages are to be kept.
<Q> Quit
Pressing <Q> will return you to the Waiting for Caller
screen. While you are editing the conferences, TriTel
takes the phone off the hook. The phone will be placed
back on the hook as soon as you return to the Waiting
for Caller screen.
<B> Backup Files
Pressing <B> toggles the TRIPACK backup flag. (TRIPACK
is the TriTel message base packer and its use is
explained later in this manual.) If the backup flag is
set for "Yes", TRIPACK will keep a backup of the
message conferences after it is done packing.
Otherwise, TRIPACK will delete the backup data files.
Local Logon
-----------
As you already know from the installation instructions (You did
read those didn't you?), the "Local Logon" menu option takes the
phone off the hook and logs you on to the BBS just like a remote
caller would be. Once logged on, you can use the board as any
remote caller might. You can return to the Waiting for Caller
screen by selecting <G>oodbye at one of TriTel's menus. The
phone is placed back on the hook after TriTel returns to the
Waiting for Caller screen.
Edit Users
----------
The "Edit Users" menu option allows you to edit your board's user
file. It will display a menu similar to the following:
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 20
-----------------------------------------------------------------
User Record Number [1 of 1] Original Log..: 12/02/91
User Name...: Mark Goodwin Times On......: 1
Address.....: Bangor, Me Security Level: 10
Password....: Install Expert Mode...: No
Phone Number: 207-941-0805 Uploads.......: 0
Birth Date..: 10/19/56 Downloads.....: 0
Last Call...: 12/02/91 15:48 Locked Out....: No
Time Left...: 48 Delete User...: No
K Uploaded..: 0 K Downloaded..: 0
Messages....: 0 Net Status....: No
<+> Next Record <-> Previous Record <D> Downloads
<N> User Name <X> Expert <U> Uploads
<A> User Address <&> Delete User <!> Time Left
<P> User Password <L> Lock User Out <B>irth Date
<#> User Phone No <T> Times On <$> K Uploaded
<R> Record Number <S> Security Level <%> K Downloaded
<O> Original Log Date <F> Find User <M>essages
<*> Net Status <1> Priv Files <2> Priv Confs
<Q>uit
Ent Select - [+ - D N X U A & ! P L B # T $ R S % O F M * 1 2 Q]?
-----------------------------------------------------------------
As you can see from this sample display, the "Edit Users" menu
presents you with the following 25 options:
<+> Next Record
Pressing <+> will move the editor to the next user.
<-> Previous Record
Pressing <-> will move the editor to the previous user.
<D> Downloads
Pressing <D> will prompt you to enter the user's new
number of downloads.
<N> User Name
Pressing <N> will prompt you to enter the user's new
name.
<X> Expert
Pressing <X> will toggle the user's expert mode flag.
If the user's expert mode flag is set for "Yes", TriTel
will only display the menu prompts. Otherwise, TriTel
will display the full menus.
<U> Uploads
Pressing <U> will prompt you to enter the user's new
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 21
number of uploads.
<A> User Address
Pressing <A> will prompt you to enter the user's new
name.
<&> Delete User
Pressing <&> will toggle the user's delete flag. The
user will not actually be deleted from the user data
file by selecting this option. If the user's delete
flag is set to "Yes" and the sysop packs the user file
(more about that later), the user's record will be
deleted from the user data file.
<!> Time Left
Pressing <!> will prompt you to enter the user's
remaining time for the day.
<P> User Password
Pressing <P> will prompt you to enter the user's new
password.
<L> Lock User Out
Pressing <L> will toggle the user's lock user out flag.
If this flag is set to "Yes", the caller will be
automatically logged off whenever he tries to log on.
This is intended to keep abusive users off you board
and unfortunately you'll run across your share of them.
<B>irth Date
Pressing <B> will prompt you for the user's new birth
date.
<#> User Phone No
Pressing <#> will prompt you to enter the user's new
phone number.
<T> Times On
Pressing <T> will prompt you to enter the user's number
of times on.
<$> K Uploaded
Pressing <$> will prompt you to enter the user's number
of K bytes (1024 bytes) uploaded.
<R> Record Number
Pressing <R> will prompt you to enter the record number
for the user you want to edit.
<S> Security Level
Pressing <S> will prompt you for the user's new
security level.
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 22
<%> K Downloaded
Pressing <%> will prompt you to enter the user's number
of K bytes (1024 bytes) downloaded.
<O> Original Log Date
Pressing <O> will prompt you for the user's new
original log on date.
<F> Find User
Pressing <F> will prompt you for the user's name you'd
like to edit. TriTel will then search the user file
for a match.
<M> Messages
Pressing <M> will prompt you to enter the user's number
of messages posted.
<*> Net Status
Pressing <*> will toggle the user's TriMail netstatus
flag. (TriMail is an optional QWK mail door for
TriTel. TriMail can be downloaded from any TriTel
support board.) If this flag is set to "Yes", TriMail
will grant the user netstatus. If this flag is set to
"No" (the default), TriMail will not grant the user
netstatus.
<1> Priv Files
Pressing <1> will allow you to edit the user's access
to any private file areas you may have set up on your
board. You will be prompted as follows for each of
your board's private file areas:
File Area: TriTel Beta Releases
Access : Doesn't Have Access
Grant Access (y/N/q)?
By pressing <Y>, you will grant the user access to the
private file area. By pressing <N> or <ENTER>, you
will deny the user access to the private file area. If
you press <Q>, you will be returned to the user editor
and the user's access for the current area will be left
unchanged.
<2> Priv Confs
Pressing <2> will allow you to edit the user's access
to any private message conferences you may have set up
on your board. You will be prompted as follows for
each of your board's private messages conferences:
Message Conference: Adults
Access : Doesn't Have Access
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 23
Grant Access (y/N/q)?
By pressing <Y>, you will grant the user access to the
private message conference. By pressing <N> or
<ENTER>, you will deny the user access to the private
message conference. If you press <Q>, you will be
returned to the user editor and the user's access to
the current conference will be left unchanged.
<Q>uit
Pressing <Q> will return you to the Waiting for Caller
screen. While you are editing the user file, TriTel
takes the phone off the hook. The phone will be placed
back on the hook as soon as you return to the Waiting
for Caller screen.
Edit Events
-----------
The "Edit Events" menu option allows you to edit your board's
events. When TriTel runs an event, it exits from memory and runs
a specified batch file. An event can be set to run at a
particular time and for either a specific day or every day of the
week. Events are handy for performing such tasks as daily door
maintenance routines, net mail relays, etc. After selecting the
"Edit Events" menu option, TriTel will display a menu similar to
the following:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Event Record Number 1 of 2
Event Day (0 = Sun to 6 = Sat or 7 = All).. : 7
Event Time................................. : 00:01
Event File................................. : IMPEVENT
Event Slide................................ : Yes
Event Already Executed Today............... : Yes
<Y> Event Day <-> Previous Event
<T> Event Time <R> Record Number
<N> Event File Name <A> Add New Event
<S> Slide Toggle <I> Insert New Event
<F> Event Flag Toggle <D> Delete Event
<+> Next Event <Q> Quit
Enter Selection - [Y T N S F + - R A I D Q]?
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 24
As you can see from this sample display, the "Edit Events" menu
presents you with the following 12 options:
<Y> Event Day
Pressing <Y> will prompt you to enter the day the event
is supposed to run. Enter 0 for Sunday, 1 for Monday,
2 for Tuesday, etc. If you want the event to run
everyday, enter 7.
<-> Previous Event
Pressing <-> will move the editor to the previous
event.
<T> Event Time
Pressing <T> will prompt you for the event time. The
event time should use a 24-hour clock and must be in
the format hh:mm.
<R> Record Number
Pressing <R> will prompt you to enter the record number
for the event you want to edit.
<N> Event File Name
Pressing <N> will prompt you to enter the name of the
event's batch file. This batch file must be located in
your board's main directory. You should note that an
extension of BAT is not required for the event batch
file; however, the event batch file name you specify
must match the file's name exactly. So the event batch
file in the above example must be named IMPEVENT and
not IMPEVENT.BAT. TriTel will copy this file to
EVENT.BAT before exiting from memory and then BOARD.BAT
will run EVENT.BAT. It is crucial that the event batch
file changes the directory back to your main TriTel
directory and then re-executes the board by having
BOARD as the last command in the batch file. The
following is a sample event batch file:
cd \doors\imperium
impcycle
cd \tritel
board
<A> Add New Event
Pressing <A> adds a new event to your board's event
data file. The new event will be added on to the end
of any existing events.
<S> Slide Toggle
Pressing <S> will toggle the event's slide flag. If
the slide flag is set for "Yes", the event will be a
sliding event. If it is a sliding event and the event
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 25
time occurs while somebody is logged on to the board,
the event won't run until the caller logs off. If the
slide flag is set for "No", the event will be a
nonsliding event. If the next scheduled event is a
nonsliding event and a caller's remaining time for the
day would put him past the scheduled event time, TriTel
will adjust the caller's log on time so that his time
will always expire shortly before the event is
scheduled to take place. TriTel will display an
appropriate message to the caller whenever the caller's
log on time has been adjusted for an event.
<I> Insert New Event
Pressing <I> inserts a new event in your board's event
data file. TriTel will prompt you to enter the number
of the event you want the new event to come before.
<F> Event Flag Toggle
Pressing <F> will toggle the event's event flag. If
the event flag is set for "Yes", the event has already
been run for the day. If the event flag is set for
"No", TriTel will run the event at its scheduled time.
<D> Delete Event
Pressing <D> will delete the current event. TriTel
will prompt you to confirm this request before carrying
it out.
<+> Next Event
Pressing <+> will move the editor to the next event.
<Q> Quit
Pressing <Q> will return you to the Waiting for Caller
screen. While you are editing the events, TriTel takes
the phone off the hook. The phone will be placed back
on the hook as soon as you return to the Waiting for
Caller screen.
Configure System
----------------
The "Configure System" menu option allows you to change a number
of TriTel's configuration options. It will display a dialog box
with the following 18 items:
<A> Board Name: Unnamed BBS
Pressing <A> allows you to change your board's name.
<B> Sysop Name: Joe Sysop
Pressing <B> allows you to change the sysop's name for
your board.
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 26
<C> BBS Starting Date: 01/01/90
Pressing <C> allows you to change the BBS's starting
date.
<D> Total Calls: 1
Pressing <D> allows you to change the total number of
calls your BBS has had. This is particularly useful if
you are switching from another system to TriTel.
<E> Daily Time Limit: 120
Pressing <E> allows you to change the default daily
time limit each caller is given. This can be
overridden by the user's security level what a file
named DLIMITS.DAT.
<F> Daily Logon Limit: 5
Pressing <F> allows you to change the default number of
daily calls a caller can make. This can be overridden
by the user's security level what a file named
DLIMITS.DAT.
<G> Max. Time Per Logon: 60
Pressing <G> allows you to change the maximum allowable
time a caller is given during each log on. TriTel will
give the user the lesser of his remaining daily time,
the maximum allowable time per log on, or the time
remaining until the next scheduled event.
<H> Minimum Sysop Security Level: 100
Pressing <H> allows you to change the minimum sysop
security level. You should only give such a security
level to people who can be fully trusted. If the
caller's security level is at least equal to the
minimum sysop security level, he will be able to read
all private messages, delete and undelete all mail,
toggle mail between being private and public, and
perform any other sysop level functions that your menu
setup allows. You should of course edit your user
record to give yourself a security level that is at
least this high.
<I> New User Security Level: 10
Pressing <I> allows you to change the new user security
level. This is the security level a caller is given
during his first call. It is up to you as to whether
or not the new user's security level should be raised
or lowered from this level.
<J> New User Time Limit: 30
Pressing <J> allows you to change the new user time
limit. This is the amount of time a new user is given
during his first day.
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 27
<K> Upload Time Compensation: 1
Pressing <K> allows you to change the upload time
compensation ratio. TriTel takes the amount of time it
takes for a user to upload a file and multiplies it by
the upload time compensation amount. The result is
added to the user's remaining time. By setting this
figure to 2, 3, or whatever, you can reward your
callers for their uploads with more time.
<L> Max. No Input Time: 3
Pressing <L> allows you to change the maximum no input
time. TriTel will log the user off if there is no
activity within the specified number of minutes.
<M> US Phone Number: Yes
Pressing <M> toggles the US Phone Number flag. If this
flag is set to "Yes" (the default), TriTel will ask the
user to enter phone numbers using the ###-###-#### US
phone number format. If this flag is set to "No",
TriTel will let the user enter phone numbers without
formatting them.
<N> Auto ANSI Detect: No
Pressing <N> toggles the ANSI detection flag. If this
flag is set to "Yes", TriTel will attempt to detect if
the user is using a comm program that supports ANSI
color graphics. If the user's comm program has ANSI
support, TriTel will display everything using ANSI
color graphics. Otherwise, TriTel will display
everything using monochrome text. If this flag is set
to "No", TriTel will ask the user at log on if he wants
ANSI color graphics or not.
<O> Default Archive Ext: ZIP
Pressing <O> toggles the default archive extension from
ZIP to ARJ to LZH to PAK to SDN to ARC and then back to
ZIP again. Whenever the user enters a filename without
an extension, TriTel will append the default extension
to the filename.
<P> Test Uploads: No
Pressing <P> toggles the upload testing flag. If this
flag is set to "Yes", TriTel will scan all uploaded
archives, EXE, and COM files for viruses. If this flag
is set to "No" the default, TriTel will not scan
uploads for viruses. (TriTel requires a number of
third-party utilities to perform this upload scanning.
The utilities that are required are explained later in
this manual.)
<Q> Waiting Messages Check: Yes
Pressing <Q> toggles the waiting messages check flag.
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 28
If this flag is set to "Yes" (the default), TriTel will
check at log on if the caller has any messages waiting
in any of the message conferences. If this flag is set
to "No", TriTel will not check for waiting messages.
<R> Total Nodes: 1
Pressing <R> allows you to set the total number of
nodes. This is automatically set by TriTel whenever a
new node is added and should only be changed if you
have deleted a node.
After you have made any and all changes to your system's
configuration, you can return to the Waiting for Caller screen by
pressing <ESC>. While you are using the "Configure System"
dialog box, TriTel takes the phone off the hook. The phone will
be placed back on the hook as soon as you return to the Waiting
for Caller screen.
Edit File Areas
---------------
The "Edit File Areas" menu option allows you to add, edit, and
delete your file areas. It will display a menu similar to the
following:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
File Area Record Number 1 of 1
File Area Description.. : TriTel Beta Releases
File Area Security..... : 10
File Area Sort Type.... : By Filename
Private File Area...... : Yes
File Area Path......... : C:\TRITEL\BETA
File Area Upload Path.. : C:\TRITEL\BETA
File Area File List.... : C:\TRITEL\BETA\FILES.LST
File Area Upload List.. : C:\TRITEL\BETA\FILES.LST
<F> File Area Description <+> Next File Area
<S> File Area Security <-> Previous File Area
<T> File Area Sort Type <R> Record Number
<V> Private File Area <A> Add New File Area
<P> File Area Path <I> Insert New File Area
<U> File Area Upload Path <D> Delete File Area
<1> File Area File List <Q> Quit
<2> File Area Upload List
Enter Selection - [F S T V P U 1 2 + - R A I D Q]?
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 29
As you can see from this sample display, the "Edit File Areas"
menu presents you with the following 15 options:
<F> File Area Description
Pressing <F> allows you to change the file area's name.
<+> Next File Area
Pressing <+> will move the editor to the next file
area.
<S> File Area Security
Pressing <S> allows you to set the file area's security
level. This is the minimum security level a user must
have in order to be allowed access to the file area.
<-> Previous File Area
Pressing <-> will move the editor to the previous file
area.
<T> File Area Sort Type
Pressing <T> allows you to toggle the file area's sort
type. If the file area's sort type is set for "By
Filename", the "Sort File Areas" Sysop Menu option will
sort the file area's list by filename. Otherwise,
TriTel will sort the file area by date. Normally, you
will probably only use a "By Date" sort type for your
current uploads file area. That way new uploads will
be listed in the order they were uploaded.
<R> Record Number
Pressing <R> allows you to specify the file area to be
edited. TriTel will prompt you for the desired file
area's number.
<V> Private File Area
Pressing <V> will toggle the file area's private area
flag. If the file area is a private area, only users
that you have specifically given access will be allowed
to access the file area. You should note that a file
area's security level is not taken into account when
granting access to a private file area. If the user
has access privileges to a private file area, he will
be able to access the file area, no matter what his
security level is. Even you as the sysop cannot access
a private file area unless you give yourself access.
(See Edit Users for details on how a user is granted
access to a private file area.)
<A> Add New File Area
Pressing <A> adds a new file area to your board. The
new file area will be added on to the end of any
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 30
existing file areas.
<P> File Area Path
Pressing <P> allows you to specify the file area's
path. This is the subdirectory TriTel will use to
store the file area's files and file list. Do not use
a "\" at the end of the pathname.
<I> Insert New File Area
Pressing <I> inserts a new file area in your board's
file areas. TriTel will prompt you to enter the number
of the file area you want the new file area to come
before.
<U> File Area Upload Path
Pressing <U> allows you to specify the file area's
upload path. All new uploaded files for the file area
will be stored in the specified subdirectory. It is
common practice to have a new uploads directory to put
all new files in. Once you have had a chance to review
the upload, you can easily move the file to its proper
file area. Do not use a "\" at the end of the
pathname.
<D> Delete File Area
Pressing <D> will delete the current file area. TriTel
will prompt you to confirm this request before carrying
it out.
<1> File Area File List
Pressing <1> allows you to specify the file area's file
list name. Whenever you set the file area's path,
TriTel sets the file list's name to "path\FILES.LST".
However, you may optionally set your file list to any
file in any directory with this option.
<2> File Area Upload List
Pressing <2> allows you to specify the file area's
upload file list name. Whenever you set the file
area's path, TriTel sets the file list's name to
"upload path\FILES.LST". However, you may optionally
set your file list to any file in any directory with
this option.
<Q> Quit
Pressing <Q> will return you to the Waiting for Caller
screen. While you are editing the file areas, TriTel
takes the phone off the hook. The phone will be placed
back on the hook as soon as you return to the Waiting
for Caller screen.
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 31
View Callers Log
----------------
The "View Callers Log" menu option allows you to view your
board's callers log. TriTel maintains a log of a user's activity
while a caller is logged on. This file is named CALLERS.LOG and
is kept in node 1's MWORK directory. By selecting the "View
Callers Log" menu option, TriTel will prompt you for a date to
start viewing the log from. You can simply press <ENTER> to view
the log starting at the beginning of the current day. While you
are viewing the callers log, TriTel takes the phone off the hook.
The phone will be placed back on the hook as soon as you return
to the Waiting for Caller screen.
Exit TriTel
-----------
The "Exit TriTel" menu option exits you from TriTel and returns
you to the DOS command prompt.
The Modem Status Window
-----------------------
The middle portion of the Waiting for Caller screen is the modem
status window. The window will display the current state of the
modem: initialization information and ring detection.
The Statistics Display
----------------------
The bottom portion of the Waiting for Caller screen displays a
variety of information about your board: the total number of
calls, the number of calls for the current day, the number of
messages that have been posted during the current day, the number
of uploads for the current day, the number of downloads for the
current day, and the node number.
Screen Blanking
---------------
After a short period of time, TriTel will blank the screen and
bounce a "TriTel BBS Ready For Caller" message around the screen.
This is done to prevent your screen from being burned by the
Waiting for Caller screen. The Waiting for Caller screen is
redisplayed by pressing any key.
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 32
DISPLAY SCREENS
---------------
TriTel allows you to use a number of optional display screens to
customize your board. These screens can be either ANSI color
screens or monochrome screens. TriTel requires you to use an
extension of ANS for ANSI color screens and BBS for monochrome
screens. All display screens are stored in the DISPLAY
subdirectory. If you have the node configured to use its own
DISPLAY directory, TriTel will look for the display screens
there. Otherwise, TriTel will look for the display screens in
node 1's DISPLAY directory.
If the caller has selected ANSI color graphics or TriTel has
autodetected ANSI color graphics, TriTel will always search the
DISPLAY subdirectory for ANS screens. If TriTel can't find an
ANS screen or the caller doesn't have ANSI color graphics
selected, TriTel will search the DISPLAY subdirectory for an
appropriate monochrome screen. If TriTel can't find either type
of display screen, TriTel will either display nothing if it's a
simple display screen or TriTel will generate and display a menu
on the fly if an appropriate menu screen isn't found.
Control Codes
-------------
By placing certain control codes in your display screen, you can
control how TriTel displays a screen. Control codes are the
ASCII codes 1 to 26. At present, TriTel supports the use of the
following control codes:
Code Description
2 Disables the "more prompt".
3 Makes the screen unbreakable. A breakable screen can
be stopped by the caller pressing <SPACE>.
4 Displays the caller's first name.
5 Enables the "more prompt".
6 Displays the caller's city/state.
12 Clears the display screen.
14 Makes the screen breakable.
15 Displays the caller's original log on date.
16 Displays a "more prompt".
@-Variables
-----------
Besides using control codes in display screens to perform certain
specified actions, TriTel also support the following @-variables
in display screens:
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 33
@-variable Action Taken
@BAUDRATE@ Displays the caller's baud rate.
@BEEP@ Sends a BELL (07H).
@BOARDNAME@ Displays the board's name.
@BREAKOFF@ Makes the screen unbreakable.
@BREAKON@ Makes the screen breakable.
@CALLS@ Displays the caller's number of calls.
@CALLSTODAY@ Displays the caller's number of calls for
today.
@CITY@ Displays the caller's city and state.
@CLS@ Clears the screen.
@DOWNLOADS@ Displays the caller's number of downloads.
@FIRST@ Displays the caller's first name.
@HANGUP@ Hangs up on the caller.
@LASTDATEON@ Displays the caller's last date on.
@LASTTIMEON@ Displays the caller's last time on.
@MORE@ Displays a "more" prompt.
@MOREOFF@ Disables the "more" prompt.
@MOREON@ Enables the "more" prompt.
@NODE@ Displays the node number.
@PHONE@ Displays the caller's phone number.
@SECURITY@ Displays the caller's security level.
@SYSTEMCALLS@ Displays the board's number of calls.
@SYSTEMCALLSTODAY@ Displays the board's number of calls for
today.
@SYSTEMDATE@ Displays the date.
@SYSTEMTIME@ Displays the time.
@TIMELEFT@ Displays the number of minutes the caller has
left for this call.
@TIMEON@ Displays the number of minutes the caller has
been on for this call.
@TIMETHISCALL@ Displays the total number of minutes the
caller has for this call.
@TOTALNODES@ Displays the board's number of nodes.
@UPLOADS@ Displays the caller's number of uploads.
@USER@ Displays the caller's full name.
You should note that case is significant for the @-variables.
TriTel will simply ignore @hangup@ in a display screen, but will
hangup the phone if it encounters @HANGUP@ in a display screen.
Log On and Goodbye Screens
--------------------------
TriTel supports up to nine log on screens and one goodbye screen.
The filename for a log on screen is LOGONn.ANS or LOGONn.BBS.
Where "n" is a number from 1 to 9. After a caller answers the
ANSI color graphics prompt, TriTel will display either LOGON1.ANS
or LOGON1.BBS. After the caller has entered his name and
password, TriTel will display the screens LOGON2 to LOGON9. At
log off and before TriTel disconnects the caller, TriTel will
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 34
display either GOODBYE.ANS or GOODBYE.BBS.
Security Specific Log On Screens
--------------------------------
TriTel supports security specific log on screens. The filename
for a security specific log on screen is either nSEC.ANS or
nSEC.BBS. Where "n" is the security level for the log on screen.
Security specific log on screens are displayed after TriTel
displays the normal log on screens.
Newsletter Log On Screen
------------------------
TriTel supports a newsletter log on screen. The filename for a
newsletter log on screen is either BBSNEWS.ANS or BBSNEWS.BBS. A
newsletter log on screen is displayed to the caller after TriTel
displays any security specific log on screens. A newsletter log
on screen is only displayed if it has been updated since the
user's last call.
User Specific Log On Screens
----------------------------
TriTel supports user specific log on screens. The filename for a
user specific log on screen is either n.ANS or n.BBS. Where "n"
is the caller's user number. User specific log on screens are
displayed after TriTel displays any newsletter log on screen.
Once a user specific log on screen has been displayed to the
appropriate caller, TriTel automatically deletes the screen.
User specific screens are unique in the fact that they are always
stored in node 1's DISPLAY directory.
New User Screen
---------------
After a new user enters his name and indicates that he is a new
user, TriTel will display a special new user screen named either
NEWUSER.ANS or NEWUSER.BBS.
Bulletin Menu and Bulletins
---------------------------
Normally, TriTel will generate a Bulletin Menu on the fly;
however, you may use a custom Bulletin Menu by naming the display
files BULLETIN.ANS and BULLETIN.BBS.
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 35
You can have from 1 to 99 bulletins by naming them as BULLETn.ANS
and BULLETn.BBS. Where "n" is a number from 1 to 99.
Main Menu
---------
Normally, TriTel will generate a Main Menu for the caller's
security level on the fly; however, you may use custom Main Menus
by naming the display files MAINn.ANS and MAINn.BBS. Where "n"
is the menu's security level. You may also have custom Main Menu
display screens called MAINALL.ANS and MAINALL.BBS. These custom
screens will be displayed if none of your MAINn.ANS or MAINn.BBS
screens match the caller's security level.
Message Menu
------------
Normally, TriTel will generate a Message Menu for the caller's
security level on the fly; however, you may use custom Message
menus by naming the display files MESSn.ANS and MESSn.BBS. Where
"n" is the menu's security level. You may also have custom
Message Menu display screens called MESSALL.ANS and MESSALL.BBS.
These custom screens will be displayed if none of your MESSn.ANS
or MESSn.BBS screens match the caller's security level.
File Menu
---------
Normally, TriTel will generate a File Menu for the caller's
security level on the fly; however, you may use custom File Menus
by naming the display files FILEn.ANS and FILEn.BBS. Where "n"
is the menu's security level. You may also have custom File Menu
display screens called FILEALL.ANS and FILEALL.BBS. These custom
screens will be displayed if none of your FILEn.ANS or FILEn.BBS
screens match the caller's security level.
Upload Screens
--------------
TriTel supports an optional upload display screen. This display
screen, if present, is displayed after the caller selects the
File Menu's Upload option. The file names for the optional
upload screens are UPn.ANS and UPn.BBS. Where "n" is the display
screen's security level. You may also have custom upload display
screens named UPALL.ANS and UPALL.BBS. These custom screens will
be displayed if none of your UPn.ANS or UPn.BBS screens match the
caller's security level.
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 36
Download Screens
----------------
TriTel supports an optional download display screen. This
display screen, if present, is displayed after the caller selects
the File Menu's Download option. The file names for the optional
download screens are DOWNn.ANS and DOWNn.BBS. Where "n" is the
display screen's security level. You may also have custom
download display screens named DOWNALL.ANS and DOWNALL.BBS.
These custom screens will be displayed if none of your DOWNn.ANS
or DOWNn.BBS screens match the caller's security level.
Door Menu
---------
Normally, TriTel will generate a Door Menu for the caller's
security level on the fly; however, you may use custom Door Menus
by naming the display files DOORn.ANS and DOORn.BBS. Where "n"
is the menu's security level. You may also have a custom Door
Menu display screens called DOORALL.ANS and DOORALL.BBS. These
custom screens will be displayed if none of your DOORn.ANS or
DOORn.BBS screens match the caller's security level.
Door Bulletin Menu and Door Bulletins
-------------------------------------
Normally, TriTel will generate a Door Bulletin Menu on the fly;
however, you may use a custom Door Bulletin Menu by naming the
display files DOORBULL.ANS and DOORBULL.BBS.
You can have from 1 to 99 door bulletins by naming them as
DRBULLn.ANS and DRBULLn.BBS. Where "n" is a number from 1 to 99.
Questionnaire Menu
-----------------
Normally, TriTel will generate a Questionnaire Menu for the
caller's security level on the fly; however, you may use a custom
Questionnaire Menu by naming the display files QUESTn.ANS and
QUESTn.BBS. Where "n" is the menu's security level. You may
also have custom Questionnaire Menu display screens called
QUESTALL.ANS or QUESTALL.BBS. These custom screens will be
displayed if none of your QUESTn.ANS or QUESTn.BBS screens match
the caller's security level.
Sysop Menu
----------
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 37
Normally, TriTel will generate a Sysop Menu for the caller's
security level on the fly; however, you may use custom Sysop
Menus by naming the display files SYSOPn.ANS and SYSOPn.BBS.
Where "n" is the menu's security level. You may also have custom
Sysop Menu display screens called SYSOPALL.ANS and SYSOPALL.BBS.
These custom screens will be displayed if none of your SYSOPn.ANS
or SYSOPn.BBS screens match the caller's security level.
List of Conferences
-------------------
TriTel supports an optional custom list of conferences that will
be displayed whenever a caller wants to change the message
conference he is in. The file names for the custom conference
listings are MSGn.ANS and MSGn.BBS. Where "n" is the display
screen's security level. You may also have a custom list of
conference names called MSGALL.ANS and MSGALL.BBS. These custom
screens will be displayed if none of your MSGn.ANS or MSGn.BBS
display screens match the caller's security level.
List of File Areas
------------------
TriTel supports an optional custom list of file areas that will
be displayed whenever a caller wants to change the file area he
is in. The file names for the custom file area listings are
DIRSn.ANS and DIRSn.BBS. Where "n" is the display screen's
security level. You may also have a custom list of file areas
called DIRSALL.ANS and DIRSALL.BBS These custom screens will be
displayed if none of your DIRSn.ANS or DIRSn.BBS display screens
match the caller's security level.
Chat Screens
------------
TriTel supports three optional chat related display screens:
SORRY.ANS/SORRY.BBS will be displayed if the sysop isn't
available for chat, USERCHAT.ANS/USERCHAT.BBS will be displayed
if the chat is initiated at the user's request, and
SYSCHAT.ANS/SYSCHAT.BBS will be displayed if the chat is
initiated by the sysop.
Log On Related Screens
----------------------
TriTel supports seven optional log on related display screens:
LOCKOUT.ANS/LOCKOUT.BBS will be displayed if the caller has been
locked out, TOOLOW.ANS/TOOLOW.BBS will be displayed if the
caller's security level is too low for the node,
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 38
NONEW.ANS/NONEW.BBS will be displayed if the new user's security
level is less than the node's security level,
TOOMANY.ANS/TOOMANY.BBS will be displayed if the caller has
exceeded his number of daily calls, PENDING.ANS and PENDING.BBS
will be displayed if the caller's time has been adjusted due to a
pending event, and FRONTEND.ANS/FRONTEND.BBS will be displayed if
the caller's time has been adjusted due to a frontend program.
Making Your Own Display Screens
-------------------------------
To make your own custom display screens, you'll need a good ANSI
screen editor. Perhaps one of the best is a shareware product
called TheDraw. It has many powerful features including ANSI
animation.
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 39
THE TRITEL MENU SYSTEM
----------------------
The heart of TriTel and what makes it so easy to set up and
maintain is its powerful menu system. The TriTel menu system is
comprised of eight menus: the Bulletin Menu, the Main Menu, the
Message Menu, the File Menu, the Door Menu, the Door Bulletin
Menu, the Questionnaire Menu, and the Sysop Menu. As you already
know, TriTel allows you to use your own security level specific
menus; however, TriTel can generate any of its eight menus from
the information contained in its eight menu configuration files.
These configuration files have an extension of .MNU and are
located in each node's NWORK subdirectory.
The Bulletin Menu Configuration File
------------------------------------
The Bulletin Menu file has a name of BULLETIN.MNU. You should
note that this is an optional menu configuration file and is only
necessary if you have bulletins and aren't using custom Bulletin
Menus. As with all TriTel menu configuration files, BULLETIN.MNU
is a text file and can be edited with any text editor. The
format for BULLETIN.MNU is as follows:
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 40
-----------------------------------------------------------------
border background,border foreground,background,foreground
description
.
.
.
description
Where:
border background is the border background color for an
ANSI color menu.
border foreground is the border foreground color for an
ANSI color menu.
background is the background color for an ANSI
color menu.
foreground is the foreground color for an ANSI
color menu.
description is one of more description of the
bulletins. These should be in the order
of your bulletins. For example, the
first description should be for
BULLET1.ANS and BULLET1.BBS, the second
description should be for BULLET2.ANS
and BULLET2.BBS, etc.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The following is a sample BULLETIN.MNU file:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
7,0,4,15
Rules of the BBS
TriTel BBS 1.0 History
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The Main Menu Configuration File
--------------------------------
The Main Menu configuration file has a name of MAIN.MNU. As with
all other TriTel menu configuration files, MAIN.MNU is a text
file and can be edited with any text editor. The format for
MAIN.MNU is as follows:
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 41
-----------------------------------------------------------------
border background,border foreground,background,foreground
B,Bulletin Menu,security level
M,Message Menu,security level
F,File Menu,security level
D,Door Menu,security level
Q,Questionaire Menu,security level
S,Sysop Menu,security level
C,Comment to Sysop,security level
A,Toggle ANSI Graphics Mode,security level
N,Newsletter,security level
Y,Your Personal Information,security level
I,System Information,security level
U,List of Users,security level
W,Who's On,security level
X,Expert Mode,security level
P,Page Sysop,security level
G,Goodbye,security level
Where:
border background is the border background color for an
ANSI color menu.
border foreground is the border foreground color for an
ANSI color menu.
background is the background color for an ANSI
color menu.
foreground is the foreground color for an ANSI
color menu.
security level is the minimum security level for this
command.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
You should note that the order of the Main Menu items and their
descriptions can be changed. However, the color codes must be in
the configuration file's first line and each of the menu item
hotkeys (the character in the first column) must remain the same.
The following is a sample Main Menu configuration file:
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 42
-----------------------------------------------------------------
6,0,1,15
B,Bulletin Menu,10
M,Message Menu,10
F,File Menu,10
D,Door Menu,999
Q,Questionaire Menu,999
S,Sysop Menu,100
C,Comment to Sysop,10
A,Toggle ANSI Graphics Mode,10
N,Newsletter,10
Y,Your Personal Information,10
I,System Information,10
U,List of Users,10
W,Who's On,999
X,Expert Mode,10
P,Page Sysop,10
G,Goodbye,0
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The following are descriptions of the 16 Main Menu items:
B,Bulletin Menu,security level
By pressing <B> at the Main Menu, TriTel will branch to
the Bulletin Menu.
M,Message Menu,security level
By pressing <M> at the Main Menu, TriTel will branch to
the Message Menu.
F,File Menu,security level
By pressing <F> at the Main Menu, TriTel will branch to
the File Menu.
D,Door Menu,security level
By pressing <D> at the Main Menu, TriTel will branch to
the Door Menu. If your board doesn't have any doors,
you should set the security level for this option
higher than anybody's security level.
Q,Questionnaire Menu,security level
By pressing <Q> at the Main Menu, TriTel will branch to
the Questionnaire Menu. If your board doesn't have any
questionnaires, you should set the security level for
this option higher than anybody's security level.
S,Sysop Menu,security level
By pressing <S> at the Main Menu, TriTel will branch to
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 43
the Sysop Menu. IMPORTANT: The security level for this
option should be set for at least your minimum sysop
security level.
C,Comment to Sysop,security level
By pressing <C> at the Main Menu, TriTel will let the
caller send a private message to the sysop. The
message will be saved in the board's first message
conference.
A,Toggle ANSI Graphics Mode,security level
By pressing <A> at the Main Menu, TriTel will toggle
ANSI color graphics on and off.
N,Newsletter,security level
By pressing <N> at the Main Menu, TriTel will display
the board's newsletter, if any.
Y,Your Personal Information,security level
By pressing <Y> at the Main Menu, TriTel will let the
caller display and edit some of his information.
TriTel will display the following menu to the caller:
------------------------------------------------------------
Name......: Mark Goodwin
Address...: Bangor, Me
Phone.....: 207-941-0805 Birth.........: 10/19/56
First Call: 11/23/91 Last Call.....: 02/21/92 09:39
Uploads...: 36 Downloads.....: 48
K Uploaded: 493 K Downloaded..: 2096
Messages..: 40 Editor........: Full Screen
Times On..: 312 Security Level: 10
Password..: Install Protocol......: Zmodem
<A>ddress, <P>assword, Phone <N>umber, <D>efault Protocol,
<E>ditor, <Q>uit:
------------------------------------------------------------
As you can see from this sample display, the "Your
Personal Information" menu features the following five
options:
<A>ddress
Pressing <A> prompts the caller for his new
city/state.
<P>assword
Pressing <P> prompts the caller for his new
password.
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 44
Phone <N>umber
Pressing <N> prompts the caller for his new
phone number.
<D>efault Protocol
Pressing <D> prompts the caller to select a
new default protocol.
<E>ditor
Pressing <E> prompts the caller to select a
new default editor.
<Q>uit
Pressing <Q> returns the caller to the Main
Menu.
I,System Information,security level
By pressing <I> at the Main Menu, TriTel will display a
number of the board's statistics.
U,List of Users,security level
By pressing <U> at the Main Menu, TriTel will display a
list of the board's users.
W,Who's On,security level
By pressing <W> at the Main Menu, TriTel will display a
list of who's on all of the board's nodes. If you are
running a single line BBS, you will probably want to
disable this option by setting its security level
higher than any of the board's users.
X,Expert Mode,security level
Pressing <X> will toggle the caller's expert mode flag.
If his expert mode flag is set for "Yes", TriTel will
not display the menus for the caller. Otherwise,
TriTel will display the menus to the caller.
P,Page Sysop,security level
Pressing <P> will page the sysop.
G,Goodbye,security level
Pressing <G> will log the caller off the board.
The Message Menu Configuration File
-----------------------------------
The Message Menu configuration file has a name of MESSAGE.MNU.
As with all other TriTel menu configuration files, MESSAGE.MNU is
a text file and can be edited with any text editor. The format
for MESSAGE.MNU is as follows:
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 45
-----------------------------------------------------------------
border background,border foreground,background,foreground
C,Change Conference,security level
E,Enter a Message,security level
R,Read Messages,security level
N,New Messages,security level
Y,Your Messages,security level
S,Set Conference Queue,security level
M,Main Menu,security level
X,Expert Mode,security level
P,Page Sysop,security level
G,Goodbye,security level
Where:
border background is the border background color for an
ANSI color menu.
border foreground is the border foreground color for an
ANSI color menu.
background is the background color for an ANSI
color menu.
foreground is the foreground color for an ANSI
color menu.
security level is the minimum security level for this
command.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
You should note that the order of the Message Menu items and
their descriptions can be changed. However, the color codes must
be in the configuration file's first line and each of the menu
item hotkeys (the characters in the first column) must remain the
same. The following is a sample Message Menu configuration file:
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 46
-----------------------------------------------------------------
7,0,2,15
C,Change Conference,10
E,Enter a Message,10
R,Read Messages,10
N,New Messages,10
Y,Your Messages,10
S,Set Conference Queue,10
M,Main Menu,0
X,Expert Mode,10
P,Page Sysop,0
G,Goodbye,0
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The following are descriptions of the 10 Message Menu items:
C,Change Conference,security level
Pressing <C> will let the caller change his current
message conference. After displaying a list of the
conferences that are available to the caller, TriTel
will prompt him for the new conference.
E,Enter a Message,security level
Pressing <E> will let the caller enter a message in the
current message conference. TriTel will prompt the
caller for the name to address the message to. If the
current conference isn't a net mail conference, TriTel
will check to see if the addressee is a user of the
board. Messages addressed to Sysop will be changed to
your name. If the message is addressed to an
individual, TriTel will ask if the message should be
flagged as PUBLIC. TriTel will then prompt for the
message subject. If the conference is a net mail
conference, TriTel will ask the caller if he wants the
message ECHOed. From there, TriTel will let the caller
enter his message using the TriTel line editor or full
screen editor.
If the caller is using the line editor, the editor's
menu can be displayed by pressing <ENTER> on a blank
line. The following are the options the line editor
menu offers:
<S>ave
Pressing <S> will save the message.
<A>bort
Pressing <A> will abort the message.
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 47
<C>ontinue
Pressing <C> will start the line editor again
where the message left off.
<L>ist
Pressing <L> will list the message.
<D>elete Line
Pressing <D> will prompt the caller for the number
of the line he wants deleted.
<I>nsert Line
Pressing <I> will prompt the caller for the number
of the line he wants a blank line inserted before.
<E>dit Line
Pressing <E> will prompt the caller for the number
of the line he would like to edit.
<R>eplace Text:
Pressing <R> will prompt the caller for the number
of the line he would like to search and replace
text in. After selecting the desired line, TriTel
will prompt the caller to enter the search and
replace strings. These strings are entered on the
same line with a semicolon separating the two
strings. TriTel will then search the line for
occurrences of the search string. If the search
string is found, it will be replaced by the
replace string.
<Q>uote
Pressing <Q> will allow the caller to quote from a
message he is replying to. TriTel will display
the original message and then prompt the call for
the first and last lines to be quoted. (This menu
option is only available if the caller is replying
to another message.)
If the caller is using the full screen editor, the
editor's menu can be displayed by pressing <ESC>. The
following are the options the full screen editor menu
offers:
<S>ave
Pressing <S> will save the message.
<A>bort
Pressing <A> will abort the message.
<C>ontinue
Pressing <C> will return the caller to the full
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 48
screen editor.
<H>elp
Pressing <H> will display a help screen that
describes what control keys the full screen editor
offers.
While editing a message using the full screen editor,
the caller can use anyone of the following control
keys:
WordStar Key IBM Key Function
<CTRL><S> <LEFT ARROW> Move left 1 character
<CTRL><D> <RIGHT ARROW> Move right 1 character
<CTRL><E> <UP ARROW> Move up 1 line
<CTRL><X> <DOWN ARROW> Move down 1 line
<CTRL><I> <TAB> Move cursor to next tab
zone
<CTRL><P> <END> Move to end of line
<CTRL><W> <HOME> Move to beginning of line
<CTRL><R> <PG UP> Move up a page
<CTRL><C> <PG DN> Move down a page
<CTRL><G> Delete character under
cursor
<CTRL><H> <BACKSPACE> Delete character to left
of cursor
<CTRL><Y> Delete current line
<CTRL><B> Reformat paragraph
<CTRL><L> Redraw screen
<CTRL><O> Quote message
<CTRL><V> <INSERT> Toggle insert/overtype
mode
IMPORTANT: The "IBM Keys" are only available to remote
callers if there communications program supports ANSI
keyboard emulation.
R,Read Messages,security level
Pressing <R> allows the caller to read messages.
TriTel will prompt the caller if he wants to read
messages in just the current conference, all
conferences, the caller's queued conferences, or quit
to the Message Menu. For each message conference,
TriTel allows the caller to enter the number of the
first message to be read, only read new messages, or
quit to the Message Menu.
While reading messages, the caller will be presented
with the following options:
<R>eply
Pressing <R> will allow the caller to enter a
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 49
reply to the message. If the message is PUBLIC,
TriTel will give the caller the option of making
the reply PRIVATE.
Read Re<p>lies
Pressing <p> will allow the caller to read a
message's replies. After reading all of the
replies, TriTel will return to the original
message. (This option is only available if the
message has replies.)
<D>elete
Pressing <D> will allow the caller to delete the
message. (This option is only available if the
caller has at least a minimum sysop security level
or the conference allows user deletion and the
message is either from or to the caller.)
<U>ndelete
Pressing <U> will allow the caller to undelete a
previously deleted message. (This option is only
available if the caller has at least a minimum
sysop security level.)
Pu<b>lic
Pressing <b> will make a PRIVATE message PUBLIC.
(This option is only available if the caller has
at least a minimum sysop security level and the
message is PRIVATE.)
Pri<v>ate
Pressing <v> will make a PUBLIC message PRIVATE.
(This option is only available if the caller has
at least a minimum sysop security level and the
message is PUBLIC.)
<-> Prev
Pressing <-> will move back to the previously
displayed message.
<+/ENTER> Next Message
Pressing <+> or <ENTER> moves on to the next
message.
<Q>uit
Pressing <Q> will allow the caller to quit reading
messages in this message conference.
N,New Messages,security level
Pressing <N> allows the caller to read new messages.
TriTel maintains pointers in each message conference of
the highest message number the caller has read. TriTel
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 50
will prompt the caller if he wants to read messages in
just the current conference, all conferences, the
caller's queued conferences, or quit to the Message
Menu. For each message conference, TriTel allows the
caller to read the conference's new messages, skip the
conference, or quit to the Message Menu.
While reading messages, the caller will be presented
with the same options as TriTel uses with the "Read
Messages" menu option.
Y,Your Messages,security level
Pressing <Y> allows the caller to read his messages.
TriTel will prompt the caller if he wants to read his
messages in just the current conference, all
conferences, the caller's queued conferences, or quit
to the Message menu. For each message conference,
TriTel allows the caller to read the message to him in
the conference or quit to the Message Menu.
While reading messages, the caller will be presented
with the same options as TriTel uses with the "Read
Messages" and "New Messages" menu options.
S,Set Conference Queue,security level
Pressing <S> allows the caller to set a conference
queue. A conference queue allows the caller to select
whether or not a conference will be read while reading
messages in queued conferences. TriTel will display a
menu with the following three options:
<L>ist Your Queue
Entering <L> presents a list of the conferences
that are available to the user and indicates
whether or not they are queued conferences.
<####> Conference to Toggle
Entering a conference's number toggle's its queued
status.
<ENTER> to Quit
Simply pressing <ENTER> returns the caller to the
Message Menu.
M,Main Menu,security level
Pressing <M> returns the caller to the Main Menu.
X,Expert Mode,security level
Pressing <X> will toggle the caller's expert mode flag.
If his expert mode flag is set for "Yes", TriTel will
not display the menus for the caller. Otherwise,
TriTel will display the menus to the caller.
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 51
P,Page Sysop,security level
Pressing <P> will page the sysop.
G,Goodbye,security level
Pressing <G> will log the caller off the board.
The File Menu Configuration File
--------------------------------
The File Menu configuration file has a name of FILES.MNU. As
with all other TriTel menu configuration files, FILES.MNU is a
text file and can be edited with any text editor. The format for
FILES.MNU is as follows:
----------------------------------------------------------------
border background,border foreground,background,foreground
C,Change File Area,security level
L,List Files,security level
N,New Files,security level
T,Text Search File Lists,security level
U,Upload File,security level
D,Download File,security level
V,View Archive,security level
R,Remove File,security level
O,Move File,security level
M,Main Menu,security level
X,Expert Mode,security level
P,Page Sysop,security level
G,Goodbye,security level
Where:
border background is the border background color for an
ANSI color menu.
border foreground is the border foreground color for an
ANSI color menu.
background is the background color for an ANSI
color menu.
foreground is the foreground color for an ANSI
color menu.
security level is the minimum security level for this
command.
----------------------------------------------------------------
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 52
You should note that the order of the File Menu items and their
descriptions can be changed. However, the color codes must be in
the configuration file's first line and each of the menu item
hotkeys (the character in the first column) must remain the same.
The following is a sample File Menu configuration file:
----------------------------------------------------------------
7,0,5,15
C,Change File Area,10
L,List Files,10
N,New Files,10
T,Text Search File Lists,10
U,Upload File,10
D,Download File,10
V,View Archive,10
R,Remove File,100
O,Move File,100
M,Main Menu,10
X,Expert Mode,10
P,Page Sysop,10
G,Goodbye,10
----------------------------------------------------------------
The following are descriptions of the 13 File Menu items:
C,Change File Area,security level
Pressing <C> will let the caller change his current
file area. After displaying a list of the file areas
that are available to the caller, TriTel will prompt
him for the new file area.
L,List Files,security level
Pressing <L> will let the caller view the board's file
lists. TriTel will prompt the caller to enter a file
mask. This file mask uses the same format as the DOS
DIR command. After entering an appropriate file mask,
TriTel will ask the caller if he wants to view the file
lists for his current file area or all file areas.
N,New Files,security level
Pressing <N> will let the caller view the board's new
files. TriTel will prompt the caller to enter a date
to begin the search with. If the caller simply presses
<ENTER>, TriTel will use the date of the caller's last
new file search. TriTel will then ask the caller if he
wants to see the new files for his current file area or
all file areas.
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 53
T,Text Search File Lists,security level
Pressing <T> will let the caller search for a text
string in the board's file lists. TriTel will prompt
the caller to enter the string to be searched for.
After entering an appropriate search string, TriTel
will ask the caller if he wants to search the file
lists for his current file area or all file areas.
U,Upload File,security level
Pressing <U> will let the caller upload a file. TriTel
will prompt the caller for the file's name and
description. If the call is a remote call, TriTel will
ask the caller to select an appropriate protocol. If
the call is a local call, the appropriate file must be
in the file area's file path.
D,Download File,security level
Pressing <D> will let the caller download one or more
files. TriTel will prompt the caller for the names of
the files to be downloaded. After entering a blank
line, TriTel will ask the caller to select an
appropriate protocol if the caller hasn't selected a
default protocol. You should note that this menu
option is not available to local calls.
V,View Archive,security level
Pressing <V> will let the caller view the contents of
an archive. TriTel will first uncompress the archive
and then display a complete listing of the archive's
contents. The caller is then given the option of
either relisting the archive's contents, displaying one
of the archive's files, compressing and downloading one
or more individual members of the archive, or returning
to the Files Menu. In order for this option to work
properly you must have the following compression
utilities in you PATH:
Archive Type Utility
ZIP PKZIP.EXE and PKUNZIP.EXE
ARJ ARJ.EXE
LZH LHA.EXE
PAK, SDN, or ARC PAK.EXE
NOTE: Due to ARJ.EXE's extremely large memory
requirements, callers are not able to recompress and
download individual members of ARJ archives.
R,Remove File,security level
Pressing <R> will let the caller remove a file from the
board's file lists and file areas. TriTel will prompt
the caller for the file's name. If the file is found,
TriTel will double check to be sure if the caller
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 54
really wants to delete the file. IMPORTANT: The
security level for this option should be set for at
least your minimum sysop security level.
O,Move File,security level
Pressing <O> will let the caller move a file from its
present file area to another file area. TriTel will
prompt the caller for the file's name and its new file
area. IMPORTANT: The security level for this option
should be set for at least your minimum sysop security
level.
M,Main Menu,security level
Pressing <M> returns the caller to the Main Menu.
X,Expert Mode,security level
Pressing <X> will toggle the caller's expert mode flag.
If his expert mode flag is set for "Yes", TriTel will
not display the menus for the caller. Otherwise,
TriTel will display the menus for the caller.
P,Page Sysop,security level
Pressing <P> will page the sysop.
G,Goodbye,security level
Pressing <G> will log the caller off the board.
The Door Menu Configuration File
--------------------------------
The Door Menu configuration file has a name of DOORS.MNU. You
should note that this is an optional menu configuration file and
is only necessary if your board has doors available. As with all
other TriTel menu configuration files, DOORS.MNU is a text file
and can be edited with any text editor. The format for DOORS.MNU
is as follows:
----------------------------------------------------------------
border background,border foreground,background,foreground
door type,description,batch file,security level
.
.
.
door type,description,batch file,security level
Where:
border background is the border background color for an
ANSI color menu.
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 55
border foreground is the border foreground color for an
ANSI color menu.
background is the background color for an ANSI
color menu.
foreground is the foreground color for an ANSI
color menu.
door type is the type of door data files TriTel is
to generate for this door. The door
type can be any one of the following
characters:
D - Generates DOOR.SYS for GAP,
etc. type doors.
P - Generates PCBOARD.DAT,
PCBOARD.SYS, and USERS for PCBoard
14.x doors.
R - Generates DORINFO#.DEF for RBBS
doors.
S - Generates SFDOORS.DAT for
Spitfire doors.
T - Generates TRITEL.SYS for TriTel
doors.
W - Generates CALLINFO.BBS for
WildCat doors.
U - Generates UTIDOOR.TXT for UTI
doors such as MegaMail.
Note that a door type is required.
There are a few doors that don't require
a door data file to be run. If you wish
to use such a door, you can simply
specify any one of the above characters.
A "U" door type creates the smallest
files. Therefore, it is preferable to
the others.
description is a description for the door.
batch file is the door's batch file. With TriTel,
all doors are run with a batch file and
must be loaded in your node's main
directory. This batch file is similar to
an event batch file. An extension of
BAT is not required for a door batch
file; however, the file name you specify
in the configuration file must match the
batch file's name exactly. If you name
your batch file GLOBAL.BAT, you must
specify GLOBAL.BAT in the configuration
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 56
file. If you name your batch file
GLOBAL (<- Note the lack of an
extension!), you must specify GLOBAL in
the configuration file. When TriTel
runs a door, it will generate the proper
door data files as is indicated by the
door's door type character. It will
then copy the door's batch file to a
file called DOOR.BAT. TriTel will then
create a temporary caller information
file. This temporary file holds the
information TriTel will need when the
caller returns to TriTel from the door.
After generating all of the proper
files, TriTel will exit from memory.
BOARD.BAT will then run DOOR.BAT. In
order for TriTel to restart after the
caller is done with the door, the last
line in the door batch file must call
BOARD.BAT. The following is an example
board batch file:
cd \doors\global
war /s c:\tritel\sfdoors.dat
cd \tritel
board
security level is the minimum security level the caller
needs to use the door.
----------------------------------------------------------------
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 57
The following is a sample DOORS.MNU file:
----------------------------------------------------------------
7,0,6,15
U,MaineRelay Hub,HUBDOOR,50
S,Global War,GLOBAL,10
P,Imperium,IMPERIUM,10
P,Bowling,BOWLING,10
S,Scrabble,SCRABBLE,10
P,Super Guppy,SUPERG,10
U,MegaMail,MEGAMAIL,10
P,TriTel Time Bank,TRIBANK,10
P,Tic-Tac-Toe,TICTAC,100
U,Page Me!!!!,PAGE,100
S,Hobbit Trivia,SFHOBTRV,10
S,Stackem,STACKEM,10
P,King of the Board,KINGOB,10
----------------------------------------------------------------
The Door Bulletin Menu Configuration File
-----------------------------------------
The Door Bulletin Menu configuration file has a name of
DOORBULL.MNU. You should note that this is an optional menu
configuration file and is only necessary if you have door
bulletins and aren't using custom Door Bulletin Menus. As with
all TriTel menu configuration files, DOORBULL.MNU is a text file
and can be edited with any text editor. The format for
DOORBULL.MNU is as follows:
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 58
----------------------------------------------------------------
border background,border foreground,background,foreground
description
.
.
.
description
Where:
border background is the border background color for an
ANSI color menu.
border foreground is the border foreground color for an
ANSI color menu.
background is the background color for an ANSI
color menu.
foreground is the foreground color for an ANSI
color menu.
description is one of more description of the
bulletins. These should be in the order
of your bulletins. For example, the
first description should be for
DRBULL1.ANS and DRBULL1.BBS, the second
description should be for DRBULL2.ANS
and DRBULL2.BBS, etc.
----------------------------------------------------------------
The following is a sample DOORBULL.MNU file:
----------------------------------------------------------------
7,0,4,15
King of the Board Pyramid
King of the Board Points
Imperium Top Ten
Scrabble Status
Scrabble Top Ten
Hobbit Trivia Top Ten
Stackem Top Ten
----------------------------------------------------------------
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 59
The Questionnaire Menu Configuration File
----------------------------------------
The Questionnaire Menu configuration file has a name of
QUESTION.MNU. You should note that this is an optional menu
configuration file and is only necessary if your board has
questionnaires available. As with all other TriTel menu
configuration files, QUESTION.MNU is a text file and can be
edited with any text editor. The format for QUESTION.MNU is as
follows:
----------------------------------------------------------------
border background,border foreground,background,foreground
description,questionnaire file,security level
.
.
.
description,questionnaire file,security level
Where:
border background is the border background color for an
ANSI color menu.
border foreground is the border foreground color for an
ANSI color menu.
background is the background color for an ANSI
color menu.
foreground is the foreground color for an ANSI
color menu.
description is a description for the questionnaire.
questionnaire file is the name of the questionnaire and
response file. This file name must not
have an extension. Your questionnaire
file should be in node 1's WORK
directory and have an extension of QUE.
TriTel will save the answers to the
questionnaire as a file with an
extension of ANS. A TriTel
questionnaire file will display each
line in the file as is unless the first
character of the line is a special
questionnaire character as follows:
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 60
: - Will display the line and prompt the
user for input. Note that the caller
must enter something in response to this
prompt.
; - Will display the line and prompt the
user for input. Note that the caller
can enter a blank line in response to
this prompt.
@ - Will display the line and prompt the
user to enter a date using the format
MM-DD-YY. After the caller has entered
the date, TriTel will prompt the caller
to see if it was entered correctly.
# - Will display the line and prompt the
user to enter the date using the format
###-###-####. After the caller has
entered the phone number, TriTel will
prompt the caller to see if it was
entered correctly.
^security level - Will set the caller's
security level to the number specified
after "^".
? - Will prompt the user for a Yes/No
response. If the caller responds with a
"Yes", TriTel will ignore the remaining
questionnaire until TriTel finds a "+"
character. TriTel will continue with
the questionnaire until another "+"
character is encountered. If the caller
responds with a "No", TriTel will ignore
the remaining questionnaire until TriTel
finds a "-" character. TriTel will
continue with the questionnaire until
another "-" character is encountered.
security level is the minimum security level the caller
needs to be able to respond to the
questionnaire.
----------------------------------------------------------------
The following is a sample QUESTION.MNU file:
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 61
----------------------------------------------------------------
7,0,6,15
Question # 1,QUEST0,10
----------------------------------------------------------------
The following is a sample questionnaire file:
----------------------------------------------------------------
Please answer the following questions truthfully:
:What is your real name?
:What is your street address?
:What is your city, state, and zip code?
:What type of computer do you own?
:What type of modem are you using?
:What type of communications software are you using?
:Are you interested in messages, files, doors, or all three?
?Are you the Sysop of a bulletin board
+
:What is the name of your BBS?
#What is the BBS's phone number?
+
----------------------------------------------------------------
You should note that TriTel supports a special New User
Questionnaire. This questionnaire has a file name of NEWUSER and
will be presented to a new user after displaying a new user
screen, if any.
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 62
The Sysop Menu Configuration File
---------------------------------
The Sysop Menu configuration file has a name of SYSOP.MNU. As
with all other TriTel menu configuration files, SYSOP.MNU is a
text file and can be edited with any text editor. The format for
SYSOP.MNU is as follows:
----------------------------------------------------------------
border background,border foreground,background,foreground
U,Edit Users,security level
C,Edit Message Conferences,security level
F,Edit File Areas,security level
E,Edit Events,security level
V,View Callers Log,security level
K,Pack User File,security level
S,Sort File Lists,security level
M,Main Menu,security level
X,Expert Mode,security level
P,Page Sysop,security level
G,Goodbye,security level
Where:
border background is the border background color for an
ANSI color menu.
border foreground is the border foreground color for an
ANSI color menu.
background is the background color for an ANSI
color menu.
foreground is the foreground color for an ANSI
color menu.
security level is the minimum security level for this
command.
----------------------------------------------------------------
You should note that the order of the Sysop Menu items and their
descriptions can be changed. However, the color codes must be in
the configuration file's first line and each of the menu item
hotkeys (the character in the first column) must remain the same.
The following is a sample Sysop Menu configuration file:
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 63
----------------------------------------------------------------
7,0,3,15
U,Edit Users,100
C,Edit Message Conferences,100
F,Edit File Areas,100
E,Edit Events,100
V,View Callers Log,100
K,Pack User File,100
S,Sort File Lists,100
M,Main Menu,10
X,Expert Mode,10
P,Page Sysop,10
G,Goodbye,0
----------------------------------------------------------------
The following are descriptions of the 11 Sysop Menu Items:
U,Edit Users,security level
Pressing <U> will let the caller edit the user records.
(See the Waiting for Caller screen section for a
description of how the user records are edited.)
C,Edit Message Conferences,security level
Pressing <C> will let the caller edit the message
conferences. (See the Waiting for Caller screen
section for a description of how the user records are
edited.)
F,Edit File Areas,security level
Pressing <F> will let the caller edit the file areas.
(See the Waiting for Caller screen section for a
description of how the file areas are edited.)
E,Edit Events,security level
Pressing <E> will let the caller edit the events. (See
the Waiting for Caller screen section for a description
of how the events are edited.)
V,View Callers Log,security level
Pressing <V> will let the caller view the callers log.
TriTel will prompt the caller to enter the starting
date to view the log from.
K,Pack User File,security level
Pressing <K> will let the caller pack the user file.
TriTel will purge any users that have been marked for
deletion from the user file and the last message read
pointer files. TriTel will prompt the caller if he
wants to proceed with packing the user file before it
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 64
is actually done.
S,Sort File Lists,security level
Pressing <S> will let the caller sort the board's file
lists. You should note that TriTel's sort routine has
an upper limit of 3000 files per list. If your file
lists grow beyond 3000 files, you will have to use an
external sorting program to sort them.
M,Main Menu,security level
Pressing <M> returns the caller to the Main Menu.
X,Expert Mode,security level
Pressing <X> will toggle the caller's expert mode flag.
If his expert mode flag is set for "Yes", TriTel will
not display the menus for the caller. Otherwise TriTel
will display the menus for the caller.
P,Page Sysop,security level
Pressing <P> will page the sysop.
G,Goodbye,security level
Pressing <G> will log the caller off the board.
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 65
EXTENDABLE MENU COMMANDS
------------------------
TriTel allows the sysop to easily extend the Main Menu, the
Message Menu, the File Menu, and the Sysop Menu through the use
of doors and batch files. The first step in extending a menu is
to add the new command's hotkey character, description, and
security level to the desired menu. For example, let's suppose
you wanted to add TriMail to your Message Menu. The following is
a sample Message Menu with TriMail added to it:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
7,0,2,15
C,Change Conference,10
E,Enter a Message,10
R,Read Messages,10
N,New Messages,10
Y,Your Messages,10
S,Set Conference Queue,10
T,TriMail,10
M,Main Menu,0
X,Expert Mode,10
P,Page Sysop,0
G,Goodbye,0
-----------------------------------------------------------------
As the above sample Message Menu shows, the new command's hotkey
is "T", its description is "TriMail", and its security level is
"10". You should note that a custom menu option's hotkey can be
any key expect one of the keys that TriTel uses internally for
the menu. Thus, you couldn't use C or G for a new Message Menu
command, but you could use @, Z, U, etc.
The next step to get the custom menu command functioning is to
create a batch file that TriTel will call to carry out the
command. The filename must be MAINh.BAT (where "h" is the
hotkey) for a custom Main Menu command, MESSh.BAT (where "h" is
the hotkey) for a custom Message Menu command, FILEh.BAT (where
"h" is the hotkey) for a custom File Menu command, or SYSh.BAT
(where "h" is the hotkey) for a custom Sysop Menu command. So
for our example TriMail Message Menu command, the proper batch
file name would be MESST.BAT and could be a batch file similar to
the following:
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 66
-----------------------------------------------------------------
cd \doors\trimail
trimail c:\tritel\pcboard.sys
cd \tritel
board
-----------------------------------------------------------------
At this point, you may be wondering where TriMail will get the
necessary door data files it needs to run. Before exiting from
memory, TriTel generates all of its possible door data files and
then simply runs the proper batch file just like it would a door.
However, you should note that it isn't strictly necessary to run
a door as a custom menu command. You can make a command out of
pretty much any program. The only limits are your imagination.
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 67
SPECIAL BATCH FILES
-------------------
TriTel runs a number of batch files that allow you to run doors
and perform maintenance routines at certain desirable times.
NEWUSER.BAT
-----------
If it exists, the NEWUSER.BAT file is called by TriTel just
before the bulletin menu is displayed providing it is the
caller's first call. Before exiting from memory, TriTel will
generate all of its possible door data files.
SECn.BAT
--------
If it exists, SECn.BAT (where "n" is the caller's security level)
is called by TriTel just before the bulletin menu is displayed.
Before exiting from memory, TriTel will generate all of its
possible door data files.
LOGON.BAT
---------
If it exists, LOGON.BAT is called by TriTel just before the
bulletin menu is displayed. Before exiting from memory, TriTel
will generate all of its possible door data files.
UPLOAD.BAT
----------
If it exists, UPLOAD.BAT is called by TriTel just after a file is
upload and before it is optionally scanned for viruses. TriTel
will pass the uploaded file's complete path name as UPLOAD.BAT's
first parameter and the uploaded file's extension as UPLOAD.BAT's
second parameter. This batch file is very handy for stripping
comments from or recommenting archives. NOTE: TriTel does NOT
exit from memory when running UPLOAD.BAT. Therefore, the size of
the programs being run with UPLOAD.BAT may be a factor for
successful completion of UPLOAD.BAT's desired task.
BETWEEN.BAT
-----------
If it exists, BETWEEN.BAT is called by TriTel just after a
callers logs off. This batch file is very handy for performing
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 68
intercaller maintenance routines. NOTE: TriTel does NOT exit
from memory when running BETWEEN.BAT. Therefore, the size of the
programs being run with BETWEEN.BAT may be a factor of successful
completion of BETWEEN.BAT's desired task.
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 69
FILE LISTS
----------
TriTel maintains a file list for each file area. A file list is
a simple ASCII file where each line contains the following
information:
----------------------------------------------------------------
123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890.....
FFFFFFFFFFFF SSSSSSSS MM-DD-YY DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD.....
Where:
FFFFFFFFFFFF is the file's name.
SSSSSSSS is the file's size.
MM-DD-YY is the file's date.
DDDDDDDDDDDD..... is the file's description.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Each file entry in the list should be no more than 80 characters
in length. Although for display purposes, 79 characters is a
more practical limit.
If you wish, you can create each file list file with a text
editor.
A simple way to add a file to an area's file list is to locally
upload it. Be sure that the file you want add to the file area's
file list is located in the file area's subdirectory. Next log
on locally, go to the Files Menu, change to the correct file area
if you're not already in it, and select the upload option. Next,
enter the file's name and description. TriTel will then add the
file's information to the file area's file list.
File List Manager: FILEMAN.EXE
------------------------------
Included with TriTel is an external utility program called
FILEMAN.EXE. This utility makes it possible to quickly and
easily edit your file lists. To run FILEMAN, be sure that you
are in one of your node's main directory and enter FILEMAN at the
DOS prompt. FILEMAN must be run from a main directory in order
to find a SYSDAT2.DAT file.
FILEMAN will start by displaying a menu of the board's file
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 70
areas. To edit a file area, simply move the highlight bar to the
desired file area and press <ENTER>. FILEMAN will then read in
the file list and display all of the file area's files in a list
box. At the bottom of the list box, FILEMAN will display the
size and date for the currently highlighted filename. To the
right of the list box, FILEMAN will display the complete
description for the highlighted filename. The list box screen
allows you to select one of the following function keys:
<ESC> - Returns you to the file area menu without saving the
new file list.
<ENTER> - Let's you edit the currently highlighted file's
description. After pressing <ENTER>, FILEMAN will then let
you edit the description using its mini-text editor. You
can exit the editor by pressing either <ESC> or <F10>.
Pressing <ESC> will return you to the list box, but the new
description will be discarded. Pressing <F10> will return
you to the list box and the new description will be saved.
<F1> - Scans the file area's directory for any files that
aren't contained in the file list. Any files that aren't in
the file list will be appended to the end of the file list.
<F2> - Sorts the current file list.
<F3> - Moves a file to a new file area.
<DEL> - Deletes the currently highlighted file. FILEMAN
will ask you if you really want to delete the file. If you
answer no, FILEMAN will ignore the deletion request. If you
answer yes, FILEMAN will remove the file from the file list.
Next, FILEMAN will ask you if you want to physically remove
the file from the drive. IMPORTANT: Once you tell FILEMAN
to physically delete the file, FILEMAN will not be able to
restore it. You may be able to restore a deleted file by
using DOS 5.0's UNDELETE command or a similar utility, but
FILEMAN can NOT restore it.
<F10> - Saves the revised file list and returns you to the
file area menu.
IMPORTANT: FILEMAN does NOT support file sharing. Therefore, all
nodes should be down on a multinode system before editing your
file lists with FILEMAN.
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 71
EXTERNAL PROTOCOLS
------------------
TriTel supports up to 15 external protocols. To enable external
protocols, you must create an external protocol menu
configuration file called EXTPROT.MNU in your node's NWORK
directory. EXTPROT.MNU has the following format:
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 72
----------------------------------------------------------------
hotkey,description,send file,receive file,batch,error correcting
.
.
.
hotkey,description,send file,receive file,batch,error correcting
Where:
hotkey is the key to be used to select the
external protocol. You should note that
you can override any of TriTel's
internal protocols by specifying the
internal protocol's hotkey for the
external protocol's hotkey. For
example, you can use a hotkey of "Z" to
replace TriTel's internal Zmodem
protocol with DSZ. Additionally, you
can't use "N" for a protocol's hotkey.
description is a description to be displayed for the
external protocol.
send file is the exact name of the batch file that
sends files to the caller with the
external protocol. This batch file must
reside in your board's main directory.
receive file is the exact name of the batch file that
receives files from the caller with the
external protocol. This batch file must
reside in your board's main directory.
batch is "Y" if the external protocol supports
batch downloading. Otherwise, "N" to
indicated that the external protocol
doesn't support batch downloading.
error correcting is "Y" if the external protocol is to be
used only with an error correcting
connection. Otherwise, "N" to indicate
that the external protocol can be used
with all types of connections.
----------------------------------------------------------------
The following is an example of an EXTPROT.MNU file:
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 73
----------------------------------------------------------------
z,Zmodem (DSZ),sz.bat,rz.bat,y,n
m,MPt (Puma),smpt.bat,rmpt.bat,y,n
----------------------------------------------------------------
This example file replaces TriTel's internal Zmodem protocol with
DSZ and adds the very speedy MPt (formerly Puma) to the board's
list of protocols. Both protocols support batch downloads and
neither is an error correcting protocol.
Send Batch Files
----------------
When TriTel calls a send batch file, it passes the following
three parameters to the batch file:
port number baud rate filename or EBATCH.DAT
The "port number" and "baud rate" parameters are pretty self
explanatory. The third parameter TriTel passes to the batch file
requires a little further explanation. If the protocol, doesn't
support batch downloads, TriTel only passes a single "filename"
to the protocol. Otherwise, TriTel creates a file called
"EBATCH.DAT" and passes the name of the file to the protocol's
batch file. "EBATCH.DAT" is simply a line-by-line listing of the
files in the batch download.
The following is an example of a DSZ send batch file called
SZ.BAT:
----------------------------------------------------------------
dsz port %1 sz -m @c:%3
----------------------------------------------------------------
Note that the above batch file enables MobyTurbo transfers.
The following is an example of a MPt send batch file called
SMPT.BAT:
----------------------------------------------------------------
mpt p%1 s @%3
----------------------------------------------------------------
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 74
Receive Batch Files
-------------------
When TriTel calls a receive batch file, it passes the following
three parameters to the batch file:
----------------------------------------------------------------
port number baud rate filename
----------------------------------------------------------------
The following is an example of a DSZ receive batch file called
RZ.BAT:
----------------------------------------------------------------
dsz port %1 rz -mrr %3
----------------------------------------------------------------
Note that the above batch file enables MobyTurbo transfers.
The following is an example of a MPt receive batch file called
RMPT.BAT:
----------------------------------------------------------------
mpt p%1 r %3
----------------------------------------------------------------
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 75
RUNNING TRITEL WITH A FRONTEND OR AS A DOOR
-------------------------------------------
TriTel can be run with either a frontend program (i.e.,
FrontDoor, BinkleyTerm, etc.) or as a door. To execute TriTel
when there is already a connection, you must specify the
connection's baud rate with TriTel's "/F" command line switch.
The format for using this switch is "/Fbaud rate". Where "baud
rate" is the connection's baud rate. For example, TriTel could
be executed with a 2400 baud connection with the following
command line:
BBS /F2400
The above is only an example and you should use BOARD.BAT to run
TriTel as you normally would. Otherwise, doors will not function
properly. To do this, modify your BOARD.BAT file as follows:
----------------------------------------------------------------
echo off
cd \tritel
if exist door.bat del door.bat
if exist event.bat del event.bat
if exist endbbs del endbbs
bbs %1
if exist door.bat door
if exist event.bat event
if exist endbbs goto end
board
:end
----------------------------------------------------------------
Note the "%1" after "bbs" in the above batch file. This will use
BOARD.BAT's first command line parameter to pass the "/F" switch
to TriTel. For example, you could execute TriTel using the above
BOARD.BAT file with a 2400 baud connection by using the following
DOS command:
BOARD /F2400
Normally, TriTel will recycle to the Waiting for Caller screen
when the caller either logs off or is forced off the board. If
TriTel is started with a "/F" parameter, TriTel will exit memory
and return control to the calling program. Thus, TriTel acts
just like a door when a "/F" parameter is used.
IMPORTANT: Although doors run fine when using TriTel in this
manner, events are always executed by TriTel's Waiting for Caller
screen routine. Therefore, events will never run if TriTel is
being run with the "/F" parameter. If your board requires
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 76
maintenance events and you are using TriTel with a frontend
program, simply run them as a frontend event. If you are running
TriTel as a door, simply let your main board run the necessary
events.
Error Correcting Connections
----------------------------
If your frontend is able to supply an error correcting message
(i.e. ARQ, etc.), it may be specified with a slightly modified
version of TriTel's "/F" command line switch: "/F baud rate/error
correcting message". Please note the slash between the "baud
rate" and "error correcting message" parameters. This slash is
essential for TriTel to be able to correctly parse the "/F"
command line switch.
Limiting Time
-------------
A user's log on time can be limited with TriTel's "/T" command
line switch. The format for this command line switch is
"/Tminutes". Where "minutes" is the maximum number of minutes
the caller should be allowed for this call.
Forced Hang Up
--------------
Normally, TriTel does not hang up on the caller when he says
goodbye. It leaves the task of hanging up to the frontend
program or the main board. If your frontend doesn't hang up
before recycling, you can use TriTel's "/H" command line switch
to instruct it to hang up on the caller before returning to the
frontend.
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 77
ARCHIVE TESTING
---------------
TriTel can optionally scan archives, EXEs, and COMs for viruses.
This feature is enabled with the Waiting for Caller Screen's
Configure System menu. If upload testing is enabled, TriTel will
call MacAfee's SCAN.EXE program to scan the contents of the
upload. Accordingly SCAN.EXE, must be in your PATH.
Additionally, TriTel requires the following decompression
utilities to be in your PATH to be able to test archives:
Archive Utility
ZIP PKUNZIP.EXE
ARJ ARJ.EXE
LZH LHA.EXE
PAK, SDN, and ARC PAK.EXE
NOTE: If TriTel isn't able to find SCAN.EXE or the proper
decompression utility, the upload will NOT be tested. If an
upload fails the virus scan, it will be immediately deleted. Be
aware that SCAN.EXE is not infallible. It is perhaps the best
utility of its kind, but no virus scanner is perfect.
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 78
ODDS AND ENDS
-------------
Obnoxious Callers
-----------------
Sooner or later you will have to lock out a caller and although
the user's record doesn't take up much disk space there's no
sense in maintaining the record to just keep the caller locked
out. TriTel eliminates the need for needlessly maintaining the
caller's user record with a file called JOKER.DAT. JOKER.DAT is
a straight ASCII text file with each line being the name of a
caller you want to keep locked out. JOKER.DAT is an optional
file and must reside in your board's MWORK directory. The
following is a sample JOKER.DAT file:
----------------------------------------------------------------
Joe Hacker
Dr. Doom
----------------------------------------------------------------
Daily Limits
------------
You will probably want to give callers with different security
levels different amounts of daily time and number of daily calls.
After all, don't you as a sysop deserve more daily time on you
own board than the average caller? TriTel supports a daily
limits file called DLIMITS.DAT. DLIMITS.DAT is an ASCII text
file and must reside in node 1's MWORK directory. You should
note that any callers whose security levels aren't found in
DLIMITS.DAT will be assigned your board's default daily time and
number of daily calls. DLIMITS.DAT is an optional file and uses
the following format:
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 79
----------------------------------------------------------------
security level,time,calls
.
.
.
security level,time,calls
Where:
security level is a security level.
time is the security level's daily time
limit.
calls is the security level's number of daily
calls.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Special Keys
------------
There are a number of special keys that you can use while a
caller is logged on to your board. They are as follows:
Key(s) Description
<F1> Adds 5 minutes to the caller's time.
<F2> Takes 5 minutes away from the caller's time.
<F3> Toggles the page bell on and off.
<F4> Will allow you to adjust the caller's security level.
TriTel will prompt you to enter the caller's new
security level.
<F5> Logs the caller off.
<F6> Logs the caller off and marks his user record as
"Locked Out".
<HOME> Toggles between the caller status window at the bottom
of the display screen and a help screen about the above
mentioned function keys.
<ALT><C> Enters chat mode. The chat can be ended by pressing
<ESC>.
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 80
<ALT><D> Allows you to drop to DOS.
Quick Logon
-----------
TriTel allows you to enter both your name and password at the
"Enter your name" prompt. Simply separate your name from the
password with a semicolon <;>. For example, a caller with the
name Mark Goodwin and a password of Install could enter his name
and password at the name prompt as follows:
Mark Goodwin;Install
You should note that for security reasons TriTel will display the
password as a series of periods <.>.
File Flagging
-------------
While displaying a file listing, the "more" prompt will allow the
caller to flag files for downloading by simply pressing <F>.
TriTel will prompt the caller for the name of the file(s) he
wants to flag.
Packing the Message Base
------------------------
You may have noticed that included with your TriTel files is a
file called TRIPACK.EXE. TRIPACK is the TriTel message base
packer. It will remove any <DELETED> messages and messages that
are older than the number of days you have indicated in your
message conferences setup. TRIPACK was developed as an external
program in order to permit you to pack your message base as an
event. TRIPACK is a fairly easy program to use and can be
executed with the following command line:
TRIPACK /P /R /C:range
Where:
/P is an optional switch. If specified,
all messages marked <PRIVATE><RECEIVED>
will be deleted.
/R is an optional switch. If specified,
the message base conference will be
renumbered. TriTel support message
numbers as high as 999,999. You should
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 81
only renumber a message base conference
if you think the conference will
rollover this amount. Although TriTel
will update its message threads
internally, net mail message threads may
be lost. For example, PCRelay maintains
a list of message threads for each
netmail conference. After renumbering
your message conference, PCRelay will
not be able to correctly indicate if a
message has been replied to or not.
/C:range is an optional switch. It is used to
specify either a single conference or a
range of conferences to be packed. A
single conference is packed by
specifying its number after the ":".
For example, /C:4 would pack message
conference 4. A range of conferences
can be packed by separating them with a
"-". For example, /C:5-9 will pack
message conferences 5 through 9.
IMPORTANT: Never pack a system's message base unless the entire
system is down.
The TriTel Protocol Driver: TTPROT.EXE
--------------------------------------
The file TTPROT.EXE is the protocol driver TriTel calls to
perform file transfers. In order for TriTel to be able to run
TTPROT.EXE, it must be in your DOS PATH. This is very important!
If it isn't in your PATH, file transfers will always abort.
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 82
MULTINODES
----------
Setting up a multinode TriTel board is a pretty easy procedure.
You must first create a directory for your new node. For
example, you might create a directory called C:\TRITEL2 for the
second node's directory. Now you must copy your SYSDAT2.DAT file
from your node 1 directory to your new node's directory. Because
BBS.EXE uses overlays, you must put a copy of it in the new
node's directory. Next change your current directory to the new
node's directory and run BBS.EXE. You now have a second node.
Before exiting to DOS you should use the Configure Node menu to
configure your new node.
Upon returning to DOS, you must create a BOARD.BAT file for your
new node. The simplest method for doing this is to copy your
node 1's BOARD.BAT file to the new node's directory and edit it
appropriately. About the only change you'll have to make is to
edit the change directory command (i.e. cd \tritel) near the top
of you BOARD.BAT file to change the directory to the new node's
directory.
Next, you will need new menu configuration files in the new
node's NWORK directory. Once again, you can simply copy node 1's
MNU files and edit them appropriately.
The process for setting up a third, fourth, fifth, etc. node is
just like the above. You simply set up another directory and
repeat all of the above steps.
How Do I Get the System Up and Running
--------------------------------------
To get multiple nodes up and running on the same computer, you
will need to use a multitasker and have a 386 or better to do it.
TriTel 2.1 has been thoroughly tested under DesqView on a 386
computer and runs like a charm. It should also run under Windows
3.0, but a multitasking communications programs under Windows is
not the best choice because of Windows lack of support for the
16550 UART. If you are not running any high speed modems on your
system, you may find Windows to be an adequate multitasker.
IMPORTANT: So that TriTel's data file will not be written to by
more than one node at a time, TriTel fully supports file sharing.
To enable file sharing, you must put the command SHARE.EXE in
your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. SHARE.EXE is a terminate and stay
resident program that comes with DOS that handles record locking.
Without SHARE.EXE in memory, TriTel does not have the ability to
correctly lock and unlock the system data files and sooner or
later they will become corrupted.
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 83
To get multiple nodes up and running on more than one computer,
you will need to use some type of networking hardware and
software. TriTel has been successfully tested on a LANtastic's
network. The only possible glitch in running TriTel on a LAN is
that all nodes use identical SYSDAT2.DAT files to locate node 1;
therefore, you must configure your LAN in such a way that all
workstations and servers refer to node 1 drive as the same drive.
For example, if node 1 is located on the C: drive on the server,
the rest of the network must refer to this as C: also. If
another node's workstation already has a C: drive, you must
redirect that drive to say D:, E:, or etc. and configure the node
1 drive as C: So as long as the whole LAN refers to node 1's
drive as the same drive, TriTel should work flawlessly on any
LAN.
Doors and Multinodes
--------------------
The greatest challenge you will find about getting a multinode
system fully functional is getting doors to run from all nodes.
The problem comes from the fact that most doors do not support
multinode operation. If they do, then fine simply set up the
proper configuration and batch files and away you go, but if they
don't it takes a little more effort. The best method I've found
so far for running a nonmultinode door on all nodes of a
multinode system is to use two utilities: FOYER and PROECHO.
FOYER is a nifty little utility that create a data file in your
door's directory to determine what, if any, node is currently
using the door. If the door is in use, FOYER returns an
appropriate "errorlevel" that can be used in your batch file to
prevent the door from being run. If the door isn't in use,
FOYER will return without error and your batch file can continue
to run the door as it normally would. After running the door,
FOYER is run again so it can "unlock" the door for use by another
node. PROECHO is a handy little utility that lets you send a
short message out through the comm port. For example, if a door
is in use, you could send a message like "That door is in use on
another node. Please try again later." By sending such a
message to the user, he will know that everything is ok and that
he'll probably be able to use the door sometime later in his
call.
Some Helpful Hints
------------------
If you are multitasking a multinode TriTel system, you will
probably want to give each node the same number of clock ticks if
they are running modems that have similar speed capabilities. If
you are running a high speed modem on one line and a slower modem
on another, you may want to give the node with the high speed
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 84
modem a few more clock ticks than the node with the slower speed
modem.
A multinode system requires a phone line and a modem for each
node. I know that may seem rather obvious, but I've seen people
on a variety of net mail echos wondering why it can't be done on
just one line. Sorry, but it just doesn't work that way.
If your local phone company offers Busy Call Forwarding, you may
want to consider getting it. With Busy Call Forwarding, a node
will automatically ring down to another node whenever it is busy.
For example, The Lobster Buoy has two lines. Node 1's phone
number is 207-941-0805. Whenever node 1 is busy, it will ring
down to node 2. Of course if node 2 is busy, the caller is out
of luck. The fee for Busy Call Forwarding is very small and make
it convenient not only for you but your callers as well.
The most helpful suggestion I can give is to get your feet wet
with a single line setup first before jumping in with your guns
blazing into a multinode setup. Give yourself sometime to master
running a single line setup first.
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 85
SUPPORT
-------
You may obtain assistance with a TriTel related problem by
calling The Lobster Buoy at 207-941-0805. This is the home board
for TriTel. You may also call any other TriTel support board for
assistance. TriTel support boards are indicated in the list of
registered boards near the end of this manual.
If you are having a problem with TriTel, please try to be as
specific as possible. Please don't say something like "I can't
get doors to work". Unfortunately, statements like that are all
too common and do nothing to help resolve the problem. Instead,
try to explain as best you can exactly what is happening when you
try to run a door and ZIP up and upload your door batch files and
door menu configuration file. Screen captures can be very
helpful when trying to diagnose a problem. So if you can, log on
remotely and capture a session that will illustrate the problem.
If you are unable to log on remotely, ask one of your users for
help. Most problems can be cured in one message if the problem
is explained in enough detail. However, if you do not provide
specific details, it can take many messages and a lot of
frustration before resolving the problem.
Also, READ THIS MANUAL!!!!!!!!!
When they become necessary, minor updates, such as 2.11, 2.12,
2.13, etc., will be available for download from a TriTel support
board. I will upload major updates, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, etc., to a
number of major bulletin boards and online services across the
country. Either way, it is your responsibility to obtain the
latest version of TriTel.
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 86
REGISTRATION
------------
Registration of TriTel is only $75.00. Please use the form at
the end of this manual to register your board. When you register
TriTel, you will receive the latest version of TriTel on disk, a
printed manual and an encrypted key file called TRITEL.KEY. All
you have to do is copy TRITEL.KEY into node 1's main directory
and voila instant registered copy. TRITEL.KEY can also be used
to instantly register all future versions of TriTel.
If you find that TriTel is the BBS for you, then please register
it. I have tried to make TriTel a quality product. It has taken
hundreds (more likely thousands at this point) of hours of
programming and testing to get TriTel to where it is today. So
please support past, present, and future TriTel development by
registering your copy today. Just consider how much a commercial
software product of TriTel's quality would cost you. By
comparison, TriTel is quite a bargain.
NOTE: The shareware version of TriTel is NOT (I repeat NOT)
crippled in any way. The registered version and the shareware
version are one and the same program. All features are enabled
with the shareware version. I've had many people ask me if the
shareware version of TriTel is crippled. It is NOT.
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 87
FILE FORMATS
------------
In order to encourage third-party development of TriTel-related
utilities and doors, this section details the file formats TriTel
uses. You should note that TriTel is written in C++ and as such
all data types are C data types. For example, all strings are
null-terminated C strings.
SYSDAT1.DAT
----------
Is the system configuration file and is located in node 1's main
directory. It uses the following format:
Byte Data Description
Position Type
1 to 41 char [41] The board's name.
42 to 82 char [41] The sysop's name.
83 to 91 char [9] The board's starting date.
92 to 95 char [4] The board's default file extension.
Must be ZIP, ARJ, LZH, PAK, SDN, or
ARC.
96 to 97 int Total number of nodes.
98 to 99 int The number of today's calls.
100 to 101 int The number of messages posted
today.
102 to 103 int The number of uploads today.
104 to 105 int The number of downloads today.
106 to 107 int The default daily time limit.
108 to 109 int The default number of daily calls.
110 to 111 int The maximum time per call.
112 to 113 int The minimum sysop security level.
114 to 115 int The new user security level.
116 to 117 int The new user daily time limit.
118 to 119 int Upload time compensation ratio.
120 to 121 int Maximum no keyboard input time in
minutes.
122 to 125 long The total number of calls.
126 to 127 int US phone number flag. If TRUE, use
US phone number format. If FALSE,
don't use US phone number format.
128 to 129 int Test uploads flag. If TRUE, scan
uploads for viruses. If FALSE,
don't scan uploads for viruses.
130 to 131 int Auto ANSI detection flag. If TRUE,
do auto ANSI autodetect. If FALSE,
prompt user for ANSI color
graphics.
132 to 133 int Waiting message flag. If TRUE,
check for waiting messages. If
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 88
FALSE, don't check for waiting
messages.
134 to 256 char [123] Reserved for future use. All
zeros.
SYSDAT2.DAT
-----------
Is TriTel's means for accessing the system data and main work
directory between nodes and is located in each node's main
directory. It uses the following format:
Byte Data Description
Position Type
1 to 81 char [81] The path to node 1's main
directory.
82 to 256 char [175] Reserved for future use. All
zeros.
NODE.DAT
--------
Is the node configuration file and is located in each node's main
directory. It uses the following format:
Byte Data Description
Position Type
1 to 81 char [81] The modem's initialization string.
82 to 86 char [5] The error correcting connection
message.
87 to 95 char [9] The date of the last call.
96 to 97 int The node number.
98 to 99 unsigned The modem's maximum baud rate.
100 to 101 int The modem's serial port.
102 to 103 int No 300 baud callers flag. If TRUE,
TriTel will not allow 300 baud
callers to log on. If FALSE,
TriTel will accept 300 baud calls.
104 to 105 int No 1200 baud callers flag. If
TRUE, TriTel will not allow 1200
baud callers to log on. If FALSE,
TriTel will accept 1200 baud call.
106 to 107 int RTS/CTS handshaking flag. If TRUE,
TriTel will use RTS/CTS
handshaking. If FALSE, TriTel will
not use RTS/CTS handshaking.
108 to 109 int Locked serial port flag. If TRUE,
TriTel will maintain the DTE rate
at the maximum baud rate. If
FALSE, DTE will follow DCE.
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 89
110 to 111 int Direct screen write flag. If TRUE,
TriTel will use direct screen
writes. If FALSE, TriTel will not
use direct screen writes.
112 to 113 int The tenths of a second delay before
sending ATA.
114 to 115 int The number of RINGs to be received
before sending ATA.
116 to 117 int Page bell flag. If TRUE, the page
bell is on. If FALSE, the page
bell is off.
118 to 119 int Use node DISPLAY flag. If TRUE,
TriTel will use the display screens
in the node DISPLAY directory. If
FALSE, TriTel will use the display
screens in node 1's DISPLAY
directory.
120 to 121 int The node's minimum security level.
122 to 256 char [135] Reserved for future use. All
zeros.
USERS.DAT
---------
Is TriTel's user records file and is located in node 1's MWORK
directory. Each user record is as follows:
Byte Data Description
Position Type
1 to 31 char [31] The user's name.
32 to 47 char [16] The user's password.
48 to 78 char [31] The user's city and state.
79 to 91 char [13] The user's phone number.
92 to 100 char [9] The user's date of birth.
101 to 109 char [9] The date of the user's first call.
110 to 124 char [15] The date and time of the user's
last call.
125 to 133 char [9] The date of the user's last new
file check.
134 to 135 int The user's security level.
136 to 137 int The user's number of calls.
138 to 139 int The amount of time remaining today.
140 to 141 int The user's last message conference.
142 to 143 int The user's last file area.
144 to 145 int The user's default protocol.
146 to 147 int The user's expert mode flag.
148 to 149 int The user's locked out flag.
150 to 151 int Marked for deletion flag.
152 to 153 int The user's number of calls today.
154 to 155 int Reserved for TriMail.
156 to 157 int Reserved for TriMail.
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 90
158 to 159 int Reserved for TriMail.
160 to 161 int Reserved for TriMail.
162 to 163 int Reserved for TriMail.
164 to 165 int Reserved for TriMail.
166 to 169 long The user's number of uploads.
170 to 173 long The user's number of downloads.
174 to 177 long The user's K bytes uploaded.
178 to 181 long The user's K bytes download.
182 to 185 long The user's number of messages
posted.
186 to 187 int The user's default editor.
188 to 256 char [71] Reserved for future use. All
zeros.
USERS.IDX
---------
Is the user index file and is located in node 1's MWORK
directory. This file is sorted in ascending order according to
the user's 32-bit CRC. Each record has the following format:
Byte Data Description
Position Type
1 to 4 unsigned long 32-bit CRC of the user's name.
5 to 6 int The user's record number in
USERS.DAT.
MCONF.DAT
---------
Is TriTel's message conference configuration file and is located
in node 1's MWORK directory. Each conference record is as
follows:
Byte Data Description
Position Type
1 to 2 int The conference's minimum security
level.
3 to 4 int The conference's net mail flag.
TRUE for net mail conference.
FALSE for non-net mail conference.
5 to 6 int The conference's user deletion
flag. TRUE for user deletion is
allowed. FALSE for user deletion
isn't allowed.
7 to 8 int The conference's backup flag. If
TRUE, TRIPACK will backup the
message conference before packing
it. If FALSE, TRIPACK will not
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 91
backup the message conference.
9 to 10 int The number of days messages are to
be save for. Tells TRIPACK when
messages are old enough to be
deleted.
11 to 12 int Private message conference flag.
If TRUE, the conference is private.
If FALSE, the conference is public.
13 to 53 char [41] The conference's description.
54 to 94 char [41] The conference's network name.
95 to 98 long The conference's highest message
number.
Mnnnn.PTR
---------
Is a message conference's pointer file and is located in node 1's
MWORK directory. Where the conference number is specified by
nnnn and is a number from 0001 to 9999. Each message in the
conference will have a record with the following format:
Byte Data Description
Position Type
1 to 15 char [15] The date and time the message was
saved.
16 to 46 char [31] The name of the message's sender.
47 to 77 char [31] The name of who the message is to.
78 to 118 char [41] The message's subject.
119 to 120 int The message's echo flag. TRUE for
echo/FALSE for don't echo.
121 to 122 int The message's thread flag. TRUE if
the message has replies/FALSE if
the message doesn't have replies.
123 to 124 int The message's private flag. TRUE
if the message is private/FALSE if
the message is public.
125 to 126 int The message's deleted flag. TRUE
if the message is marked for
deletion/FALSE if the message isn't
marked for deletion.
127 to 128 int The message's received flag. TRUE
if the message has been
received/FALSE if the message
hasn't been received.
129 to 132 long The message's position in
Mnnnn.TXT.
133 to 136 long The message's number.
137 to 140 long If the message is a response to a
previous message, this value will
hold the original message's number.
Otherwise, this will be 0.
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 92
Mnnnn.IDX
---------
Is a message conference's index file and is located in node 1's
MWORK directory. Where the conference number is specified by
nnnn and is a number form 0001 to 9999. Each message in the
conference will have a record with the following format:
Byte Data Description
Position Type
1 to 4 unsigned long 32-bit CRC of the message sender's
name.
5 to 8 unsigned long 32-bit CRC of the message
addressee's name.
9 to 12 long The message's number.
13 to 16 long If the message is a response to a
previous message, this value will
hold the original message's number.
Otherwise, this will be 0.
Mnnnn.TXT
---------
Is the message conference's text file and is located in node 1's
MWORK directory. Where the conference number is specified by
nnnn and is a number from 0001 to 9999. The start of each
message is pointed to by an appropriate pointer in the
conference's Mnnnn.PTR file. The message's text is made up of
null-terminated strings with a null string indicating the end of
the message. TriTel's internal editors are limited to messages
of 72 characters per line with up to 200 lines per message. This
should be observed by offline mail doors and net mail systems.
Mnnnn.LMR
---------
Is a message conference's last message read file and is located
in node 1's MWORK directory. Where the conference number is
specified by nnnn and is a number from 0001 to 9999. Each user
has a record with the following format:
Byte Data Description
Position Type
1 to 2 int The user's conference queue flag.
TRUE if the conference is included
in the user's conference queue.
2 to 4 int The user's private access flag.
TRUE if the user has access to this
conference and it is a private
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 93
conference.
5 to 8 long The highest message number the user
has read in this conference.
Mnnnn.WAT
---------
Is a message conference's waiting message flag file and is
located in node 1's MWORK directory. Where the conference number
is specified by nnnn and is a number from 0001 to 9999. Each
user has a record with the following format:
Byte Data Description
Position Type
1 to 2 int The user's number of waiting
messages in this conference.
FAREA.DAT
---------
Is TriTel's file area configuration file and is located in node
1's MWORK directory. Each file area record is as follows:
Byte Data Description
Position Type
1 to 2 int The file area's minimum security
level.
3 to 4 int The file area's sort flag. TRUE if
sort by file name. FALSE if sort
by date.
5 to 6 int Private file area flag. TRUE if
it's a private file area. FALSE if
it's a public file area.
7 to 47 char [41] The file area's description.
48 to 128 char [81] The file area's path.
129 to 209 char [81] The file area's upload path.
210 to 290 char [81] The file area's file list.
291 to 371 char [81] The file area's upload file list.
372 to 512 char [141] Reserved for future use. All
zeros.
Fnnnn.USR
---------
Is a file area's private access flag file and is located in node
1's MWORK directory. Where the file area number is specified by
nnnn and is a number from 0001 to 9999. Each user has a record
with the following format:
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 94
Byte Data Description
Position Type
1 to 2 int The user's private access flag. If
TRUE, the user has access to this
file area if it is a private area.
EVENTS.DAT
----------
Is a node's event configuration file and is located in the node's
NWORK directory. Each event record is as follows:
Byte Data Description
Position Type
1 to 2 int The event's day of the week.
3 to 4 int The event flag. TRUE if the event
has been executed/FALSE if the
event hasn't been executed.
5 to 6 int The slide flag. TRUE for a sliding
event/FALSE for a nonsliding event.
7 to 12 char [6] The event's time.
13 to 21 char [9] The event's batch file.
TRITEL.SYS
----------
Is TriTel's proprietary door data file. It is an ASCII text file
and uses the following format:
1 <- The user's record number
Mark Goodwin <- The user's name
Something <- The user's password
200 <- The user's security level
Y <- Y for Expert, N for Novice
Y <- Y for ANSI, N for monochrome
60 <- Minutes left for this call
207-941-0805 <- The user's phone number
Bangor, Me <- The user's city and state
10/19/56 <- The user's birth date
1 <- The node number
1 <- The serial port
2400 <- Baud rate or 0 for local
38400 <- Locked rate or 0 for not locked
Y <- Y for RTS/CTS, N for no RTS/CTS
N <- Y for error correcting or N
Unnamed BBS <- The board's name
Joe Sysop <- The sysop's name
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 95
LIST OF REGISTERED TRITEL BOARDS
--------------------------------
List of registered TriTel Bulletin Board Systems as of 02/21/92:
Board Name Telephone Number Maximum Baud Rate
Star of Life BBS 203-669-2089 14400 HST/V.32bis
The Party Line 205-520-0742 2400
The Flight Line BBS 205-598-6656 2400
Night Watch 205-841-2790 2400
The Electronic Advrtiser 206-847-3329 2400
The Dark Arena 207-827-5399 2400
King Arthur's Court 207-866-3705 2400
The Lobster Buoy (1) 207-941-0805 * 14400 V.32bis
The Lobster Buoy (2) 207-945-9346 * 14400 HST/V.32bis
James Bond's Hideaway 207-942-6575 * 14400 HST/V.32
B-2 BBS 207-990-2203 2400
Man Overbaud 214-228-3854 2400
All Computer Support BBS 216-564-7879 2400
The Beach Comber BBS 216-964-8002 9600
Southern Comfort 301-753-5643 2400
Adult Life BBS 301-890-1322 2400
The LODI BBS 304-273-9729 2400
The Data Dump BBS 306-956-3383 * 14400 HST/V.32bis
The East Village 312-421-5262 2400
Night Link Chicago BBS 312-873-6752 2400
Critical Phase 314-443-4378 2400
The Dragon's Nest 314-567-1389 2400
The Trading Post 403-789-4076 14400 HST
Byte Might BBS 404-413-0359 2400
The Bad Connection BBS 416-630-8645 2400
The File Cabinet BBS 501-247-1141 9600
The BlueMoon BBS 505-255-4119 9600 V.32
Call Again Soon 508-791-8456 14400 HST/V.32bis
The Operating Room 516-867-2644 2400
The Staff 518-377-6403 2400
Bald Eagle BBS 601-939-2836 9600 V.32
Skyhawk's Nest BBS 602-378-0417 2400
Twilight Zone 602-731-4990 2400
Emerald City 603-256-6147 2400
The Meeting House 603-256-6931 9600 V.32
The World Beyond BBS 609-854-4296 2400
The Trash Heap 612-572-1573 2400
Needed BBS 614-635-3117 2400
Redskin BBS 616-642-3854 2400
Vivid Images Press Syn 703-328-6915 2400
"The Flash Express" 703-491-7721 2400
Miller Time! 703-631-0561 9600 V.32
My UnKnown BBS 703-780-6890 * 2400
Wheel Chair Express 707-464-3705 2400
Amigo's & Amiga's BBS 707-465-3974 2400
Recursion City BBS 707-664-0952 9600 CSP
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 96
Falcon BBS 707-778-7637 2400
My House BBS 708-739-9355 2400
The Software Shop 708-759-6404 9600 V.32
Ryanhill BBS 717-698-9007 2400
Westside BBS 717-961-0732 2400
The Screamin' Eagle BBS 803-323-2479 9600 V.32
The Fourels BBS 813-843-8155 2400
The "Gore" Zone! 816-523-7375 2400
Fringe Forum, The Sequel 904-656-2263 9600 CSP
The Academy 904-732-4471 2400
LAMP COM BBS 919-847-4335 2400
Herbert's Mailbox 0537-847498 2400
The Academy Not Listed Not Listed
The Academy Not Listed Not Listed
The Academy Not Listed Not Listed
The Wilde Side Not Listed 2400
PC-Parlor Not Listed 2400
The Nucleus Not Listed 2400
Guru Mountain Inactive
Works of Art Inactive
* - Indicates a TriTel support board.
Plus there are currently 17 registered TriTel Bulletin Board
Systems that prefer to remain unlisted.
The TriTel Bulletin Board System 97
TRITEL REGISTRATION FORM
Registration of TriTel 2.1 is $75.00. Shipping and handling is
free for all U.S., Canadian, and Mexican orders. All other
international orders must add $10.00 shipping and handling.
Payment is to be made in U.S. funds ONLY! Please answer all of
the following questions:
Name____________________________________________________________
Address_________________________________________________________
City__________________________State__________Zip________________
Telephone Number: Day_________________Night_____________________
BBS INFORMATION
BBS Name________________________________________________________
BBS Phone Number________________________________________________
Modem_______________________Maximum Baud Rate___________________
Did you have to alter the default initialization string_________
If yes, your initialization string______________________________
Would you like your board listed in future manuals______________
THANK YOU FOR REGISTERING TRITEL
Mail To:
Mark Goodwin
366 14th St.
Bangor, ME 04401