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The Magic Oracle v9.6
Written by Sean Dennis
(C)1998-2006 Sean Dennis
Another fine Cheepware production!
==========================================================================
Have questions in your life that need to be answered? The Magic Oracle
can help you decide! The Magic Oracle is a BBS door (that can also be
run locally) for any BBS that can run 16-bit DOS doors and support
the DOOR.SYS and DORINFO1.DEF dropfiles.
LICENSE
=======
The Magic Oracle is a freeware program, meaning you can use it for free
indefintely. However, the program and its associated files are
copyrighted by Sean Dennis. No reverse engineering, disassembling or
dismantling the program is allowed. This program is not guarenteed to
do anything on your system. If it breaks something, you own both
pieces. This program worked on my BBS before I released it. If you'd
like to port this program to another language or scripting language,
contact me and we'll talk.
This program MAY NOT BE USED ON A PAY BBS! If you charge for access
and I don't mean donations, then you cannot use this door or any
of my doors. BBSing is a hobby and should be free.
WHAT IS THE MAGIC ORACLE?
=========================
The Magic Oracle ("TMO" for short) is a BBS door that is similar to
the Magic 8 Ball(tm), but with more of a bite. TMO should run on
any BBS that can support 16-bit DOS doors and has a FOSSIL driver.
Some of the features of TMO:
* Full multinode operation (up to 255 nodes)
* Supports ALL comports and IRQs (FOSSIL driver required)
* Locked baud rates up to 115,200 BPS
* ANSI emulation built in (ANSI.SYS not needed)
* DOOR.SYS and DORINFO1.DEF support
* DesqView, OS/2, Windows and DOS timeslicing
* Customizable screens
* No configuration files - run it from the command line
* Up to 32,767 "answers" in a simple text file
* Prompts customizable
* Pipe color codes supported in text files
UPGRADING FROM A PREVIOUS VERSION
=================================
You no longer need ORACLE.CFG. You should delete INDEX.DAT and run
TMO locally to regenerate the INDEX.DAT file to be on the safe side.
You can now use pipe or Telegard-style color codes in the data files,
but not in ORACLE.ANS/.ASC.
INSTALLATION
============
It's easy to install TMO. Here's how to do it:
1) Unzip this archive to its own directory.
2) Set up the door in your BBS. You can do this two ways, either by
calling the door directly (Synchronet) or using a batch file (other
BBS software). I will show you how to set this up using a batch
file as I do in ProBoard.
First, here's the command line parameters:
ORACLE.EXE <full path to dropfile>
An example:
ORACLE.EXE D:\PB\NODE%1\DOOR.SYS
I personally recommend using DOOR.SYS since that dropfile offers
more information than DORINFO1.DEF.
That's all you have to use to run this door! If you want to
run it locally, use /L on the command line.
*** Batch file setup ***
The batch file that I use and place in ProBoard's main directory:
@echo off
d:
cd\doors\tmo
oracle d:\pb\node%1\door.sys
cd\pb\node%1
I run a multiline BBS, so I pass the node number to the batch file
from the BBS. If you use a single line, substitute the number of
your node (i.e. 1) instead of %1.
This is the ProBoard setup (from ProCfg):
Hotkey : M
Function : 7 - Shell
Data : *D*Z*Sruntmo.bat *#
Other BBS software should be set up similar - check your BBS's
documentation on how to set the door up specifically for your
system.
4) Run the door locally by typing ORACLE /L at the command prompt. This
will initialize the door and will create a new INDEX.DAT (more info
on this file later).
5) TMO should be ready for your users' and your enjoyment!
THE STATUS BAR
==============
The status bar shown when someone is logged in and using the door looks
something like this (shrunken for size in this document):
The Magic Oracle v9.6 by Sean Dennis (C)2006 Sean Dennis
Sean Dennis Node2 OS/2 57600 Ansi KP: 0:00 TL: 275:43
CUSTOMIZATION
=============
TMO is very customizable for your use. You have three files you can customize:
* ORACLE.ANS - you can create a file with .ANS or .ASC. Please keep it small
and less than 10 lines as TMO uses absolute references on where to print
its prompts.
* LANGUAGE.DAT - you can customize all the prompts and what characters to
use for Y and N. Please read LANGUAGE.DAT for more information about
the prompts.
* ANSWERS.DAT - this is the "answers" file. Each line must be under
78 characters in length - this is NOT counting the pipe color codes, as
the codes are stripped out before display. If the lines are longer than
78 characters, the door may behave unexpectedly. You can have up to
32,767 "answer" lines.
VERY IMPORTANT: If you add or subtract lines to/from ANSWERS.DAT, you
/MUST/ delete INDEX.DAT and run the door (locally is fine) to regenerate
that file! If you do not do this, TMO will not work right!
You can use pipe color codes in the .DAT files. They are very simple and
easy to use. These codes consist of a pipe symbol '|' followed by a
number (0-23). Here's a quick reference chart:
Code Color
---- -----
0 Normal Black
1 Normal Blue
2 Normal Green
3 Normal Cyan
4 Normal Red
5 Normal Magenta
6 Brown
7 Normal White
8 High Intensity Black
9 High Intensity Blue
10 High Intensity Green
11 High Intensity Cyan
12 High Intensity Red
13 High Intensity Magenta
14 Yellow
15 High Intensity White
16 Background Black
17 Background Blue
18 Background Green
19 Background Cyan
20 Background Red
21 Background Magenta
22 Background Brown
23 Background White
Example: "|15|17" would set the current color to high intensity white on a
blue background.
For the Telegard-style (`xx) codes, the following applies (this was taken
directly from the Telegard documentation):
The colour sequence indicator (`), followed by two characters from
0 to 9, A to F to form the colour code. The colour codes are
listed below for your convenience (low and high intensity side by
side).
REGULAR
Black Blue Green Cyan Red Magenta Brown White
+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
Black | 00 08 | 01 09 | 02 0A | 03 0B | 04 0C | 05 0D | 06 0E | 07 0F |
+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
Blue | 10 18 | 11 19 | 12 1A | 13 1B | 14 1C | 15 1D | 16 1E | 17 1F |
+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
Green | 20 28 | 21 29 | 22 2A | 23 2B | 24 2C | 25 2D | 26 2E | 27 2F |
+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
Cyan | 30 38 | 31 39 | 32 3A | 33 3B | 34 3C | 35 3D | 36 3E | 37 3F |
+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
Red | 40 48 | 41 49 | 42 4A | 43 4B | 44 4C | 45 4D | 46 4E | 47 4F |
+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
Magenta | 50 58 | 51 59 | 52 5A | 53 5B | 54 5C | 55 5D | 56 5E | 57 5F |
+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
Brown | 60 68 | 61 69 | 62 6A | 63 6B | 64 6C | 65 6D | 66 6E | 67 6F |
+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
White | 70 78 | 71 79 | 72 7A | 73 7B | 74 7C | 75 7D | 76 7E | 77 7F |
+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
BLINKING COLOURS
Black Blue Green Cyan Red Magenta Brown White
+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
Black │ 80 88 | 81 89 | 82 8A | 83 8B | 84 8C | 85 8D | 86 8E | 87 8F |
+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
Blue │ 90 98 | 91 99 | 92 9A | 93 9B | 94 9C | 95 9D | 96 9E | 97 9F |
+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
Green │ A0 A8 | A1 A9 | A2 AA | A3 AB | A4 AC | A5 AD | A6 AE | A7 AF |
+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
Cyan │ B0 B8 | B1 B9 | B2 BA | B3 BB | B4 BC | B5 BD | B6 BE | B7 BF |
+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
Red │ C0 C8 | C1 C9 | C2 CA | C3 CB | C4 CC | C5 CD | C6 CE | C7 CF |
+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
Magenta │ D0 D8 | D1 D9 | D2 DA | D3 DB | D4 DC | D5 DD | D6 DE | D7 DF |
+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
Brown │ E0 E8 | E1 E9 | E2 EA | E3 EB | E4 EC | E5 ED | E6 EE | E7 EF |
+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
White │ F0 F8 | F1 F9 | F2 FA | F3 FB | F4 FC | F5 FD | F6 FE | F7 FF |
+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
CREDITS AND THANKS
==================
The Magic Oracle was written in Borland Pascal 7.0 using FKFOSSIL and my
custom door code. This door contains additional code written by Larry
Athey and Michael Preslar. TMO was tested under the following BBS
systems: ProBoard v2.17 (DOS) under OS/2 Warp 4.52, Telegard/2 under
OS/2 Warp 4.52 and Synchronet v3.xx under Windows XP.
Special thanks to:
- Michael Preslar for helping me write this door so many years ago and
for the current support and code.
- Larry Athey for allowing me to use code from his TDK doorkit freely.
- Alan Ianson, Patrick Vittori and Kevin Nunn for beta testing.
- Sandy Chiedster of Outworld Arts for allowing me to use her art.
- My wife, Maura, for putting up with me while I write my programs.
I like to hear from people who are using my doors and even *sigh*
bug reports. You can contact me the following ways:
- Email : sean@outpostbbs.net
- Netmail: 1:18/200@Fidonet or 618:618/1@Micronet
- WWW : http://outpostbbs.net
- BBS : telnet://bbs.outpostbbs.net
I enjoy hearing from anyone who's using my doors and what they think
of them. Please feel free to drop me a line and to let me know how
the doors work for you!
You can get more information about the Cheepware line by visiting
http://outpostbbs.net/cheepware.html or by FREQing the magic name
CHEEPWARE from bbs@outpostbbs.net (send an email with the subject
of FREQ with the message of FREQ CHEEPWARE).
Cheepware, The Magic Oracle are property of Sean Dennis.
FKFOSSIL is (C)1993-1994 by Tim Strike and Forbidden Knights Systems.
Thank you for using The Magic Oracle. Support your local BBS scene!
--Sean Dennis
Cheepware Author
<EOF>