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TransAmiga BBS v1.06 Manual Update Page 1
Updates
Introduction:
This section describes changes in TransAmiga since v1.0
(which the manual was written for). Depending on what
version of TransAmiga you're upgrading from, some changes
may have to be made in your setup. Please be sure to read
this document in its
entirety
so as not to miss
anything important.
TransAmiga v1.06:
* Upload:download ratios were not working well at all, they
have now been fixed.
* The baud rate of the online caller is now shown in the
status window.
* You can now have TransAmiga lock the baud rate using the
'LOCK' argument.
* FINALLY! TransAmiga will give up CPU time while waiting
for input from a user. This means that TransAmiga will
almost never slow the computer down a really noticeable
amount.
* TransAmiga now runs on a non-interlaced screen. It uses
a new font called TransIBM, 8 point, so the old HiResIBM
font can be deleted. My apologies to those that liked the
interlace screen, but a lot of people didn't like it, and it
was taking up too much memory.
* The unregistered version is now crippled in a slightly
different way. Doors remain unusable, however FidoNet has
been enabled fully. On the other hand, a 10 second delay
has been added after the about screen is displayed.
Everything else remains as before.
* TransAmiga no longer pauses for ten seconds before an
upload. This was required with older versions of XPRGate,
but as of XPRGate v1.06, this is no longer necessary. Just
make sure your XPRGate is v1.06 or higher.
* Under AmigaDOS release 2.0, TransAmiga was not quite
working right. Before the title bar would appear, you had
to click the right mouse button, and it would crash upon
exiting. These problems have been resolved.
TransAmiga BBS v1.06 Manual Update Page 2
* When getting the default menu for message or file areas,
gaps would appear for areas the user didn't have access to.
* VInfo was causing some obscure problems. I've rewritten
it, and it now displays complete error messages, so if
problems do still exist with it they will be stated. Also,
if VInfo is not present, TransAmiga will now still accept
uploads, so if you can't get VInfo to work right, just
delete it. A final note on VInfo, it can now be made
resident, so a 'resident c:VInfo' (or 'ARes c:VInfo FORCE'
for ARP users) will make finding out how much free space
there is a lot quicker.
* TransAmiga now sets the 'Local' bit on echomail, which
should fix the problems in getting it to work with
FastPoint.
* A bug which caused a user's screen length to be set to
zero after doing a Continuous Message Read has been
removed.
* A bug when listing new files has been fixed.
* A bug when adding more than one message area in
TransConfig has been fixed.
TransAmiga v1.05:
* Setting up a local message area number higher than 10
would cause the BBS to crash, this has hopefully been fixed.
* Getting information on a file would cause problems, this
too has been fixed.
TransAmiga v1.04:
* Command line parsing was not working properly. It has
been fixed however and seems to work correctly now. The
distinction between the serial port baud rate and the actual
connect baud also didn't work, but does now.
* After a batch upload it now actually lists the files that
were received.
* Full support for a full-screen editor has been added.
* The t:Door.Temp file has been expanded to include the
name of the serial device being used (30 chars, null
padded), and the serial device unit number (16-bit integer).
* You can now setup the full-screen editor command in
TransConfig.
TransAmiga BBS v1.06 Manual Update Page 3
TransAmiga v1.03:
* The size screen opened by TransAmiga is based on the size
of the Workbench screen, so on PAL systems, it should open a
full size screen.
* TransEd will now accept either a forward slash (/) or a
backslash (\) for commands. I personally don't like that
(doens't work well if you're trying to post C or ARexx
source with comment lines) but alot of people asked me to
change it.
* TransAmiga multitasks much better when waiting for calls.
It now causes virtually no slowdown when it's waiting for a
call, a dramatic improvement over previous versions.
* You can add commands to any of the menus that execute DOS
commands using new Externals command files (see below).
* TransAmiga now differentiates between the baud rate of
the serial port and the actual baud rate of the online
caller. This is important when locking the serial port baud
rate (see below). The Door.Temp file puts in the REAL baud
rate, while the % in protocol commands puts in the LOCKED
baud rate.
* A bug when trying to abort the new files listing has been
fixed.
* A bug when deleting users has been fixed.
* A bug when a user drops carrier during chat has been
fixed.
* The ^aPID kludges in echomail have been brought closer to
spec. They are also included in netmail too.
* TransConfig was updated. Several nasty bugs have been
removed.
* Supplementary documentation has been written to help
novice users get started, and to give more info on what
FidoNet is.
TransAmiga v1.02:
* The user list command did not work well at all. It has
not been completely fixed, but it works better now.
* Privileged users now have the option of sending netmail
as crash mail (meaning it is sent directly to its
TransAmiga BBS v1.06 Manual Update Page 4
destination instead of going through the normal links).
* The user list command no longer displays how many users
the BBS has, since that figure wasn't accurate, it's merely
the highest user number of anyone on the board. If you
select the user list command from the SysOp menu, it will
tell you what the highest user number is.
* The last caller is now displayed in the status window
while the BBS is waiting for a call.
* Often messages would say there were replies when infact
they weren't, this has been cured.
* While the BBS was waiting to receive a command from a user
with hotkeys on, the idle timer was not functional, this has
been fixed.
* With dates less than 10, the number would have a zero
infront of it. Now there's a space instead.
* TransConfig has been updated.
Upgrading:
:
If you have already setup a version of TransAmiga earlier
than v1.03 there are a few steps you must take before you
can use this update. They are as follows:
* Load up your Main.Cmds file and add one additional
command entry. This is the Version Info command. You can
assign it to any key you want, call it anything you want,
and give it any access you want, it doesn't matter, the BBS
will always change it to V for Version Info, access 0. But
the entry for this command MUST be there.
* Delete the file Door.Config, it is no longer used so it
will just waste space with this new version.
* Load up your Door.Cmds file and delete any commands that
run doors. There should only be 3 command entries for this
menu now. How to setup doors is outlined later.
That's all, you may now use this new version.
TransConfig:
One major change has been made to TransConfig since the
manual was written. The manual states that before you run
TransConfig you are required to create several directories
(the configurations directory, the text directory, the file
area directories, etc). This is no longer necessary. Now,
TransAmiga BBS v1.06 Manual Update Page 5
whenever you enter a directory into TransConfig, it will
create that directory for you if it does not already exist.
However, TransConfig will not create a directory when that
directory is within another which also needs to be created.
For example, perhaps you wish to have all your file areas
with a directory called 'Files'. You will have to Create
the Directory 'Files' beforehand, but you will not have to
create the individual file directories.
This removes alot of the chore of setting up initially
(alot of people were forgetting to create the Setups
directory in the System directory). You should still plan
out beforehand what all the directories will be, as some
will still have to be created by you (as outlined above) but
you are no longer required to create them all as TransConfig
creates most of them for you.
There is no longer any door setup necessary. Ignore the
section on setting up doors entirely. Users upgrading can
delete their Door.Config file. Doors are not added using
the external commands, as described below.
When setting up the message areas, you can specify a command
to execute the full-screen editor with. At the time of
writing, the full-screen editor (called TransEd v2.0) is not
yet ready, so just skip this question.
The visual layout of TransConfig has been changed slightly,
so what you see won't quite correspond to what Appendix I
says, but it should be close enough.
mExternal Commands:
As of v1.03, TransAmiga can include AmigaDOS programmes as
menu commands. Each menu now has an additional control
file, similar to the .Cmds files. They are called the
Externals files, and have the .Exts suffix (thus you can
have Main.Exts, Message.Exts, Bulletin.Exts, SysOp.Exts,
File.Exts, and Door.Exts). Each file can have up to 10
commands.
The format of these files is exactly the same as the command
files, except one additional field has been added where you
enter what DOS command gets executed when a user picks the
command from the BBS. After the access level field in the
file, enter a space, and the rest of the line becomes the
DOS command to be run.
Several special sequences can be entered within these
commands, so specific information can be passed to the
programme:
TransAmiga BBS v1.06 Manual Update Page 6
%a - substitutes in the user's current file or message
area
%d - substitutes in the directory of the user's current
file or message directory
%# - number of last message read
%b - the user's REAL (not locked) baud rate
%q[...] - Query user for input with the prompt between the
brackets. What the user enters will be substituted
in.
Users of the Chameleon message reader will probably note the
similarities. In fact, many external command macros
designed for Chameleon should be easily adaptable for
TransAmiga (just remember that TransAmiga uses %d instead of
%la).
Here's an example of what your File.Exts file might look
like:
' ********************** *** ** Command --->
T Type File 200 c:Type %q[Type what file: ]
/ Short Dir List 200 c:Dir %q[What directory: ]
This adds two new commands to the file menu, T for "Type
File", and / for "Short Dir List". Remember, as with the
command files, the length of each field is crucial. It
would be best to create additional Externals files by
editting on of the samples provided to make sure you get all
the spacing exact.
Also, before TransAmiga actually executes the command, it
creates the t:Door.Temp file so the programme that is run
can look up any user info.
This new ability of TransAmiga more or less replaces the
functions of the Doors menu. The Doors menu is still there,
but there is no more Door configuration file. You set up
doors by making up a Door.Exts menu. The Doors.Cmds file
has also changed a little. It now has just three entries,
for Quit to Main Menu, Good-Bye, and Help. You no longer
need entries for each doors, as the .Exts file contains the
commands for the doors.
There is also a slight side effect to all this. Your
Main.Cmds file will need one additional entry. Before it
wasn't necessary to have a command entry for the Version
Info command, it was added automatically. Now however, it
MUST be the last command in the main menu. It doesn't matter
what you actually enter for it, TransAmiga always change it
V for Version Info, access 0. If you do not add it, you
WILL get a Run Time Error #62 invariably when you try to
start up the BBS.
Finally, External commands will only ever be executed if you
TransAmiga BBS v1.06 Manual Update Page 7
have registered, otherwise the commands do nothing, so you
might as well delete all the .Exts files in your
configurations directory if there are any.
Manual:
One thing concerning the command file of the bulletins menu
was not made clear in the manual. The Bulletins.Cmds file
has three basic commands: Quit, Help, and Good-Bye. In
addition to those three commands, you must
add
entries for
every for bulletin you set up in TransConfig. For example:
if you set up 7 bulletins with TransConfig, be sure that
your Bulletin.Cmds file has 10 command entries (3+7). The
entries that you add must be in the same order as you
entered them in TransConfig in order for the commands to
correspond to the correct bulletin files. If your
Bulletins.Cmds file does not have enough commands, you will
get an error 62.
The example TransConfig output in the manual has the Zmodem
command slightly incorrect, it should read:
XPRGate serial.device 0 % xprzmodem.library
T?,OR,B8,F8192,AN,DN,KN,SN,RN,P$ r ram:
all one one line. Note the RN betweem the SN and the P$.
Also, in the included Message.Cmds and File.Cmds files, they
both have comment lines that state incorrectly how many
entries they have. It should be 13 and 15 respectively.
The format of the t:Door.Temp was listed incorrectly in the
manual. It is actually as follows:
* system path - 80 chars. null padded
* configuration path - 80 chars. null padded
* text file path - 80 chars. null padded
* bulletin path - 80 chars. null padded
* door path - 80 chars. null padded
* caller type (1 = online, 0 = local) - 1 byte (0-255)
* user's screen length - 1 byte (0-255)
* user's name - 20 chars. null padded
* access level (0-255) - 1 byte (0-255)
* user's baud rate - 16-bit signed integer, 2 bytes
* online time remaining (in minutes) - 1 byte (0-255)
* full path to the user's Setup file - 100 chars. null
padded
* serial device - 30 chars. null padded
* serial device unit - 16-bit signed integer 2 bytes
BBS Utilities:
TransAmiga BBS v1.06 Manual Update Page 8
As TransAmiga grows more and more popular, several utilities
have been coming out. Among them are TrFL by myself, for
creating a text file listing all available files in the
system's file areas. Another one is JUpload by Bernard
Leach, for quickly creating a TransAmiga file listing. And
also BulkUpload, by Paul Johnson written in CanDo, a fully
Intuition driven file area management programme.
I have also written a few small ARexx utilities, for
creating ANSI news files, and for adding a Quote of the Day
at logon.
TransEd v2.0:
Beta versions of TransEd v2.0 are being made available to
registered users. It will be sent out on the disk you
receive when you register, and those that have already
registered can download it from the support boards.
What is TransEd v2.0? It is a full-screen editor for use
with writing messages in TransAmiga. With it installed,
users with ANSI graphics turned on will have the option of
using the full-screen editor, or the normal line editor that
you usually see.
High Speed Modem Notes:
:
TransAmiga as of v1.06 can be made to lock the baud rate.
To do this, you add the 'LOCK' argument after the name of
your config file on the command line:
TransAmiga BBS:Configs/TransAmiga.Config LOCK
This will cause TransAmiga to lock the baud rate at the
maximum you set in TransConfig, and it will not adjust it
when a connection is made. This means it is up to the modem
to handle this, only certain kinds of modems such as the HST
can do this, so most people will not have use this.
If you are using a frontend mailer such as TrapDoor, you can
have that lock the baud rate. When doing this, it will also
be necessary for you to tell TransAmiga what the real baud
rate of the online caller is. This is so that TransAmiga
can do things such as transfer time calculations correctly.
All you have to do is add one more parameter to the command
line: the real baud rate. In TrapDoor, your BBSCOMMAND will
look like "BBS:TransAmiga BBS:TransAmiga.Config %B %b".
For more help in setting up TransAmiga for use with high
speed modems, call Chris' Amiga BBS HST (number is in the
manual) and talk to the SysOp there.
TransAmiga BBS v1.06 Manual Update Page 9
TransAmiga v1.1:
:
Work is already well underway on a brand new version of
TransAmiga called TransAmiga v1.1. This will be a major
upgrade, with virtually every part of the BBS being
overhauled, and a long list of new features.
TransAmiga v1.1 is still quite early on in development. Once
I feel it is getting well on in development, I will allow
registered users to download it if they wish to help test
it.
Improvements are being made almost everyday, but among the
changes that have already been made are:
* You now have the option of having TransAmiga open on an
interlaced screen, non-interlaced screen, or on the
Workbench screen. You can also set the size and the font of
the terminal window.
* A complete ARexx port, and the ability to run an ARexx
macro from virtually anywhere in the BBS. This will
probably be the method of choice for writing doors, and will
infact allow you to bypass the entire builtin menuing system
of TransAmiga and construct the BBS setup yourself through
ARexx macros! The possibilities that this will allow are
practically endless. I expect that several dozen TransAmiga
ARexx programmes will be available at release time, most of
them will probably be games.
* Control characters can be inserted in text files to have
them display anything from the last caller, to the last
message read. These control characters have been chosen so
as to be compatible with what is used by RemoteAccess.
Additional ones have been added though.
* The menu prompts (like '[Main Menu - 60]') are now text
files that you can customize just like the menus, but you
still have the option of displaying the old default prompts.
* The change setup menu now has its own command file just
like all the other menus. It includes several new commands,
including postal code, and a full-screen editor toggle.
* A Read Messages sub-menu where you can read messages
forwards and backwards, follow message threads, and reply.
* A new message area type: E-Mail. In a message area of
this type, all messages are assumed to be privileged.
* New message area commands: Forward Message, Save Message
to File, and Search Message Headers.
TransAmiga BBS v1.06 Manual Update Page 10
* Privileged users can send FidoNet file attaches.
* Optionally enter long-file descriptions.
* Read and write access levels for file and message areas,
and also optional passwords.
* You will be able to start up the BBS where it waits on
its ARexx port for a message telling it to connect a user.
This will allow near instaneous transitions between mailer
and BBS.
This is just the beginning, and there will be several more
changes to come.
Qualified registered users will be allowed to help test if
the wish once it reaches the beta stage. I don't anticipate
this happening until late February or March, with Final
release probably not coming until after April.
Registering:
:
Several people have been mispelling my name, so I thought
I'd just take this opportunity to quickly point out that it
is Tim Aston, that's A-S-T-O-N, there is NO H!
Also, please do not send me cash unless it is in Canadian
dollars, US dollars, or Britsh pounds. Cheques are
preferable, and ones drawn from foreign banks are fine.
After receiving your registration, your registration disk
will be shipped within 2 weeks. All registration disks will
be sent out Canada Post regular mail. The disk contains the
latest version of TransAmiga, the TransEd v2.0 full-screen
editor, a few miscellaneous BBS utilities, and a couple of
FidoNet utilities (ConfMail v1.12 and TrapDoor v1.50 at the
moment, subject to change).
Next Version:
:
I'm pretty satisfied with TransAmiga right now. Any more
additions will probably wait until v1.1 I think, although I
will try to correct bugs immediatly. This version seems to
be very stable, so I don't think you'll be seeing any new
versions until v1.1.
-Tim
