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OOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOO OOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOO OOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO
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OO OOOOOO OO OO OOOOOO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO
OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO
OO OO OO OO OO OOOOOOOOOO OO OO OO OO OO OOOOOOOOOO
OO OOOOOO OO OO OOOOOOOOOO OO OOOOOO OO OO OO
OO OOOOOO OO OO OO OO OOOOOO OO OOOOOOOOOO OO
OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOO OO OO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOO OO OO
OO OO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OO
oMMM OO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Opus Computer-Based Conversation System
Version 1.79
Copyright 1986, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1997 Wynn Wagner III
All Rights Reserved
This version written by John Valentyn
with Doug Boone, Ulf Nilsson and Trev Roydhouse.
INSTALLATION MANUAL
1 May 1997
Documentation by Trev Roydhouse
Dedicated to Tom Jennings and Ward Christensen
Copyright 1997, Trevor B Roydhouse
All Rights Reserved
Page 2 OPUS-CBCS V1.79 INSTALLATION MANUAL
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1.0 INTRODUCTION TO OPUS V1.79 INSTALLATION .................. 3
1.1 INSTALLATION PRE-CHECKLIST .......................... 3
1.1.1 THE CONFIG.SYS FILE ......................... 3
1.1.2 THE AUTOEXEC.BAT FILE ....................... 6
2.0 THE DISTRIBUTION FILES ................................... 8
3.0 INSTALLATION ............................................. 10
3.1 INSTALLING A NEW OPUS SYSTEM ........................ 10
3.1.1 RUNNING THE INSTALLATION PROGRAM ............ 10
3.1.2 THE DEFAULT DIRECTORY STRUCTURE ............. 11
3.1.3 RUNNING OPUS ................................ 12
3.2 UPGRADING AN OPUS 1.73a SYSTEM ..................... 13
4.0 A TOUR OF YOUR NEW OPUS SYSTEM ........................... 15
INTRODUCTION Page 3
+-------------------------------------------------+
| |
| "It's a hundred and six miles to Chicago. |
| We've got a full tank of gas, half a pack |
| of cigarettes, it's dark, and we're wearing |
| sunglasses." |
| |
| "Hit it." |
| ---- The Blues Brothers |
| |
+-------------------------------------------------+
1.0 INTRODUCTION TO OPUS V1.79 INSTALLATION
Here is the theory: getting Opus running "out of the box" is supposed
to be a fairly simple job.
There are thousands of things you can do to your Opus system to
customise it, but none of them is guaranteed to be simple or
straightforward. Even if you are an experienced sysop, please FIRST
install Opus "by the numbers," and defer customising and tweaking
until after you have the system running. That way, you will keep the
number of possible errors to a minimum.
This installation manual assumes the following:
* You are putting your Opus system onto drive C:
* You are running your Opus system under MS-DOS or PC-DOS
* You have a working knowledge of MS-DOS or PC-DOS
* You are wearing mirrored shades
1.1 INSTALLATION PRE-CHECKLIST
The equipment which you need to have on hand before you start an Opus
installation:
* Mirrored shades
* Nerf bat
* IBM personal computer or compatible with hard disk.
1.1.1 THE CONFIG.SYS FILE
CONFIG.SYS lets you set some of the operating parameters of your
computer at boot time. There are four-and-a-half (depends on your DOS
version) commands that directly affect Opus' performance:
Page 4 OPUS-CBCS V1.79 INSTALLATION MANUAL
FILES=xx
This statement tells DOS how many files a single process may have
open at one time. If a program tries to use more files than you
have declared, it generally does nasty things, like deleting the
currently opened files to make room for new ones. Not a pretty
sight.
Opus requires at least 20 files. DOS allocates 48 bytes for each
file defined in CONFIG.SYS, so you can be pretty liberal in
allocating these. If you are running some sort of multitasker,
remember that your file handles are divided by the number of
tasks running. That is, if you are running two programs, and you
have files set to 20, each task will be allowed to open 10. This
will not work with Opus. You will need to increase the number of
files. The maximum number of file handles you can allocate is
255, but this is VERY excessive.
BUFFERS=xx
This tells DOS how much information to read in at a time when a
transfer is made from disk to memory. Each buffer takes 528
bytes, so you might need to watch this if you are running in a
limited amount of space. Between 40 and 60 is about right on most
systems. If you are running a disk cache (recommended) then you
will probably find that between 8 and 15 buffers give the best
results. Generally speaking, if you specify too few buffers at
boot time, you will slow the system down. If you specify too many
buffers, you will slow the system down, so you really need to
experiment with this one. The largest number of buffers that can
be allocated under versions of DOS prior to 3.3 is 99.
COUNTRY=xxx
This parameter specifies how the keyboard mapping, the currency
symbol, the decimal separator, and most important, the date and
time formats.
OPUS WILL DO NASTY THINGS IF THE DATE FORMAT IS NOT 'MERICAN!!!
You can still load an optional keyboard driver, but you must not
specify a country code other than 001. If you have dates showing
up as garbage, you have your machine installed for the wrong
country, even if you happen to live there.
DEVICE=ANSI.SYS
You must include this statement in your CONFIG.SYS file to use
Opus's graphics capabilities. ANSI enables computer-to-computer
colour and cursor positioning.
INTRODUCTION Page 5
+--------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| SEE HERE: If there are a lot of numbers, semicolons and left |
| brackets on your screen when Opus runs, you do not |
| have ANSI installed! |
| |
+--------------------------------------------------------------+
You should install the ANSI device driver that comes with DOS
(built into DEC's version) until your Opus is stable. Substitute
ANSI video drivers may or may not work. DESQview users should use
the ANSI driver supplied with DESQview. DoubleDOS users should
use the ANSI driver supplied with DoubleDOS.
+-----------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| QUICK DOS LESSON: |
| |
| Vanilla MS or PC-DOS users install ANSI by adding a line |
| the CONFIG.SYS file in the root directory of drive C: |
| that reads: |
| |
| device=[fully-qualified pathname]ANSI.SYS |
| |
| (Re)booting the computer will install ANSI.SYS, thus |
| enabling Opus' colour and graphics. |
| |
+-----------------------------------------------------------+
For further information on setting up a CONFIG.SYS file, turn to
the configuration section of your DOS manual. The description in
the DOS manual is very good, and should more than answer any
questions. If you have a version of DOS that does not come with a
paper manual, try the online help system.
STACKS=n,s
The internal stack handling in DOS 3.2 and higher has provided a
new "feature" for those who want to lock up their keyboards (and
screens, and disk drives ...). To prevent lockup when repeated
interrupts overrun the DOS stack, you may wish to include
something like the following in CONFIG.SYS:
STACKS=18,256
That does not mean "eighteen-thousand, two hundred fifty six."
It is actually 18 stack frames of 256 bytes -- plenty for Opus.
Lots of folks, especially those running DESQview and DoubleDOS,
find that STACKS=0,0 also works reliably.
Page 6 OPUS-CBCS V1.79 INSTALLATION MANUAL
+-------------------------------+
| Suggested settings: |
| |
| FILES=40 |
| BUFFERS=40 |
| DEVICE=ANSI.SYS |
| STACKS=18,256 |
| |
+-------------------------------+
1.1.2 THE AUTOEXEC.BAT FILE
Opus also requires a couple of lines in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. While
this is also a good place to install one-time options and resident
programs, bulletin boards do NOT generally get along well with memory
resident software! Anything that installs its own keyboard routines
may cause conflicts with the bulletin board routines. You can try
whatever programs you want with Opus, but there is no guarantee that
they will work. If your Opus is turning weird, uninstall any memory
resident programs, and see if the problem stops.
FOSSIL
AUTOEXEC.BAT is the place to install many FOSSIL communications
programs; some versions, however, are device drivers and must be
installed via CONFIG.SYS. Please check the documentation for the
FOSSIL you will be using.
A few of the available FOSSIL communications drivers available
for use with Opus include:
OpusComm (TSR program)
X00 (Device driver ..or.. TSR program)
BNU (TSR program).
Set TZ=
Internally, Opus works in Universal Coordinated Time (UTC). You
need not be exposed to this, because Opus tries to adjust to your
time zone by using a DOS environment variable called TZ. This is
standard for programs written in C, and you may have already set
this if you are a C programmer. If not, you will need to tell
DOS the time difference between your location and Universal
Coordinated Time (previously known as Greenwich Mean Time).
It is really not difficult; you can set it once and forget about
it. Following are examples for the USA and Australia. The
format for the variable is xxxyyy where xxx is the three letter
INTRODUCTION Page 7
designation for your time zone (ie EST for Eastern Standard
Time), and yyy is a two digit signed number signifying the
difference from Universal Coordinated Time to your time zone.
Countries west of Greenwich (in England) have a positive number;
east, negative.
Here are some examples for the USA:
Atlantic For standard time ......... SET TZ=AST04
For daylight time ......... SET TZ=ADT03
Eastern For standard time .......... SET TZ=EST05
For daylight time ......... SET TZ=EDT04
Central For standard time .......... SET TZ=EST06
For daylight time ......... SET TZ=EDT05
Mountain For standard time ......... SET TZ=EST07
For daylight time ......... SET TZ=EDT06
Pacific For standard time .......... SET TZ=EST08
For daylight time .......... SET TZ=EDT07
Here are some examples for Australia:
Eastern States For standard time ... SET TZ=EST-10
For daylight time ... SET TZ=EDT-11
Opus defaults to Central Standard Time, which is EST06. If you
are in the central time zone of the USA, you do not have to set
this, although it is still a good idea.
Page 8 OPUS-CBCS V1.79 INSTALLATION MANUAL
2.0 THE DISTRIBUTION FILES
The distribution files are:
OEXE179.ZIP Opus main executable programs
OPUS.EXE Opus executable
CHAT.COM Chat fossil
OMAKE179.ZIP Opus installation kit
INSTALL.COM New Opus Sysop Installation program
INSTALL.HLP Installation program help file
BASE.CTL Base BBS.CTL file for installation program
BASE.BAT Base NERF.BAT file for installation program
ENGLISH.ZIP Opus (English) language files
MISC.ZIP Opus miscellaneous files
HELP.ZIP Opus online help files
NODELIST.ZIP Basic nodelist files
OUTIL179.ZIP Opus utility programs
CAYENNE.EXE Opus binary parameter file decompiler
CAYENNE.HLP "
CON2.EXE Opus 1.70 to 1.79 files database converter
CON2.DOC "
CONFILE.EXE FILES.BBS to 1.70 files database converter
CONFILE.DOC "
NACL.EXE Opus text control file compiler
NACL.HLP "
NACL.MSG "
OEVENT.EXE Opus event schedule editor
OEVENT.DOC "
OFARE.EXE Opus File Area REindexer
OFARE.DOC "
OPUS-FAM.EXE Opus File Area Manager
OPUS-FAM.DOC "
WHATSNEW.99L "
OUDL.EXE Opus/BinkleyTerm download counter
OUDL.DOC "
PHATCH.EXE Opus "HATCH" pre-processor
PHATCH.DOC "
PTIC.EXE Opus "TICK" pre-processor
PTIC.DOC "
SPICE.EXE Opus 1.79 Swiss army knife :-)
SPICE.DOC "
ENGLISH.HLP "
UNCON179.COM Opus 1.79 files database to FILES.BBS
UNCON179.DOC "
USERNDX.EXE Opus 1.79 user database indexer
USERNDX.DOC "
DISTRIBUTION FILES Page 9
OSOM179.ZIP Opus Sysop Operations Manual
OSOM179.TXT
OTEC179.ZIP Opus Technical Reference Manual
OTEC179.TXT
Page 10 OPUS-CBCS V1.79 INSTALLATION MANUAL
3.0 INSTALLATION OF OPUS
+---------------------------------------------+
| |
| It is only when they go wrong that machines |
| machines remind you how powerful they are. |
| |
| - Clive James |
| |
+---------------------------------------------+
The succeeding sections detail the steps necessary to (1) install a
new Opus 1.79 system from the distribution files and (2) upgrade an
exiting Opus 1.73a system from the distribution files.
3.1 INSTALLING A NEW OPUS SYSTEM
Please follow these steps carefully.
* Create a directory called \INSTALL into which you will copy the
installation files. This is not the directory in which Opus
will be installed, it is simply a staging area for the
installation files. When you have finished installing, you can
erase this directory and all the files in it.
* Copy the OEXE179.ZIP, OUTIL179.ZIP and OMAKE179.ZIP files into
the \INSTALL directory.
* Make sure that PKUNZIP or another unzipping program is either
in the \INSTALL directory or is on your DOS path.
* Now unzip only the OMAKE179.ZIP file inside the \INSTALL
directory. Do not unzip any other files in this directory.
3.1.1 RUNNING THE INSTALLATION PROGRAM
In the \INSTALL directory you will find the installation program
INSTALL.COM. This program is your friend. The program operates in two
different modes.
For a novice installation: simply type "INSTALL". You will be asked a
minimal number of questions (your name, the name of your BBS, the
directory in which to install Opus, your modem details and your
FidoNet Zone number). NOTE: if your modem is not attached to COM1:, do
not use the novice installation, but rather use the advanced
installation below.
INSTALLATION OF OPUS Page 11
For an advanced installation: type "INSTALL ADV". You will be asked
many more questions about your setup, although most questions will
offer a default response which you can accept unless you wish to
change it for some reason.
INSTALL.COM is your friend. At every question, you can obtain help in
answering that question by pressing the ? key at Y/N prompts or by
pressing the ? key and then ENTER at other prompts.
HEALTH WARNING: Before running the INSTALL.COM program, please ensure
that your mirror shades are firmly in place. Ok, you can now run the
installation program!
The installation program will:
* Create the necessary BBS.CTL file;
* Create a default NERF batch file;
* Create the necessary directories (see Section 3.1.2 below);
* Extract the various Opus files to the correct directories;
* Create a user file database and index file containing one user
(you, using the name you specified in response to the first
question it asked);
* Create a default event schedule file;
* Compile the BBS.CTL file to produce the required BBS.PRM file;
* Remind you to SET the TZ environment variable to the correct time
zone so that Opus events will occur at the right times; and
* If you have not already installed a FOSSIL communications
program, remind you to do so.
3.1.2 THE DEFAULT DIRECTORY STRUCTURE
Unless you choose to run the installation program in the advanced
mode and change the default directory names and/or locations, the
program will create the following directories for your new Opus system
(assuming that your base directory name is C:\OPUS):
Page 12 OPUS-CBCS V1.79 INSTALLATION MANUAL
C:\OPUS Opus base directory
C:\OPUS\HELP Online help files
C:\OPUS\MISC Miscellaneous bulletin files
C:\OPUS\UTILS Utility files and their documentation
C:\OPUS\LANG Language files
C:\OPUS\OUTBOUND Outbound mail files
C:\OPUS\INBOUND Inbound mail files
C:\OPUS\NODELIST Nodelist files
C:\OPUS\BAD_MSGS Bad echomail messages
C:\OPUS\TEMP Temporary directory
C:\OPUS\MSGS Base message directory
C:\OPUS\MSGS\NETMAIL Netmail messages
C:\OPUS\MSGS\LOGOFF Logoff messages (messages to the Sysop)
C:\OPUS\MSGS\GENERAL General messages
C:\OPUS\FILES Base file directory
C:\OPUS\FILES\GENERAL General files for users to download
NOTE: If you wish to send mail to another FidoNet Zone, then you will
have to manually create C:\OPUS\OUTBOUND.nnn (where nnn is
hexadecimal number of another Zone to which you wish to send
mail).
3.1.3 RUNNING OPUS
Before going any further, make sure that:
* You have already installed your FOSSIL communications program
running (eg by running Opus!Comm, BNU or installing the X00
device driver. The FOSSIL programs have their own documentation.
Please read it!
* Put a time zone entry into your environment. From the DOS
prompt, you can type something like this:
SET TZ=EST04
You can put that line into your AUTOEXEC.BAT or NERF.BAT file to
keep you from having to type it in all the time. This part is
pretty important. If you put the wrong number here, your events
will not happen at the correct times. After you are set up, you
will want to study the section of the Sysop Operations Manual
dealing with this in more detail.
* Check the contents of any file you are using named LOGO.???
which will be found in your MISC directory. This file will be
displayed automatically when a connection is made. Be sure it
contains no ANSI graphics and absolutely no IBM graphics
characters. In addition, it should be fairly short. Following
these guidelines will a help make mailer connections go more
smoothly.
INSTALLATION OF OPUS Page 13
* Change to your base directory, for example, C:\OPUS and type
"NERF" and press <Enter>. You should see your modem lights flash.
Opus will check out your system. Shortly, you should see the
message "Ready" on your screen.
Welcome to Opus-CBCS!
If you followed the instructions, and everything looks like is is
working, please skip to section 4.0 of this manual entitled "A TOUR OF
YOUR OPUS SYSTEM".
If you followed the instructions, and everything does not appear to
be working, contact another friendly Opus sysop for help. If you do
not know another friendly Opus sysop, please see the Sysop Operations
Manual or Technical Reference Manual for other help resources.
3.2 UPGRADING AN OPUS 1.73a SYSTEM
Grizzled veterans of Opus V1.73a should follow these steps for
converting an existing Opus 1.73a system. If you run a front end
mailer, like Binkleyterm, you can convert and leave all your batch
files exactly as they are. Isn't that nice?
* BACKUP YOUR SYSTEM!!!!! If you lose files because you did not
backup, guess whose fault it is?
* Create a scratch directory on your hard disk.
* Place OEXE179.ZIP, OUTIL179.ZIP and OMAKE179.ZIP in the scratch
directory.
* Unzip OEXE179.ZIP and copy OPUS.EXE and CHAT.COM to your
existing Opus directory.
* Move ENGLISH.ZIP to your language and unzip it in that
directory.
* You may also wish to move MISC.ZIP to your miscellaneous
directory and unzip it there, provided you have not done any
customisation to your existing misc files. This is an optional
step.
* You may also wish to move HELP.ZIP to your help directory and
unzip it there, provided you have not done any customisation to
your existing help files. This is an optional step.
* Move OUTIL179.ZIP to your Opus utility directory and unzip it
there. This directory must be on your DOS path (obviously :-).
This archive contains a number of essential utility programs
for Opus 1.79 (see Section 2.0 of this Manual for details).
* Run the CON2.EXE program to upgrade your Opus 1.73a files
database to the new Opus 1.79 files database.
Page 14 OPUS-CBCS V1.79 INSTALLATION MANUAL
* Run CAYENNE to decompile your BBS.PRM file into a BBS.CTL file.
* Edit your BBS.CTL file to remove any repeated tildes ("~") from
your modem init string. You will probably not need any of them
anymore.
* Run NACL to re-compile your BBS.CTL file into a BBS.PRM file.
* Make sure you have your mirrored shades firmly in place and ...
start your new Opus system.
Your upgrade installation is now complete. The best course at this
point is to print out the Opus Technical Reference Manual and the Opus
Sysop Operations Manual, and spend a couple of days reading them!
A TOUR OF YOUR NEW OPUS SYSTEM Page 15
4.0 A TOUR OF YOUR NEW OPUS SYSTEM
+-------------------------------------------------+
| |
| "In case of fire, yell FIRE." |
| |
| --- the management |
| |
+-------------------------------------------------+
This section is a walking tour of your new Opus system. It is
important that new Opus sysops go through it step-by-step. In addition
to becoming familiar with the setup, you will also be able to check
your setup. Grizzled Opus veterans can safely ignore this whole
section!
When you see the "Ready" message on your screen, press the letter "K"
(for keyboard mode).
Your modem's DTR light should go out and you should see your name on
the screen in the form of a question:
Guido Fiorelli [Y,n]? _
Press ENTER to answer YES.
The first time you logon, Opus will not ask you for your password.
In all future logons, Opus will ask you for your password. Press
ENTER.
After some configuration questions and welcome screens, you should
find yourself at the main menu.
Press the "!" (exclamation point) at the main menu ... then press
ENTER.
The sysop menu looks like this:
SYSOP:
Matrix setup Events Outside Quit ?Help
Select: _
From the sysop menu, select Events by typing "E" and pressing ENTER.
You should see the external Event Manager program menu.
The system comes with the following three events already setup by the
installation program with starting and ending times in Universal
Coordinated Time (UTC):
YELL ..... 00:00 through 24:00 (all day)
Z ........ Your Zone's ZoneMailHour (one hour)
eXternal.. Exit with errorlevel 9 (1 minute)
Page 16 OPUS-CBCS V1.79 INSTALLATION MANUAL
You may wish to change these events. First, please consult the section
in the Sysop Operations Manual dealing with events and the
documentataion for the event editor OEVENT which may be found in the
Opus utils directory.
Press the "ESC" key to quit the Event Manager itself without making
any changes, or "Q" to save the changes.
Type "Q" once more to quit the sysop menu.
You should now find yourself at the main menu. Remember that the
installation program set your password to "SYSOP". You should go to
the History menu and change the password before putting your system
online for callers. Let's do it now! Type "H" and press ENTER.
The History menu should appear. Type "P" and press ENTER. Now, type in
your existing password. Opus will prompt you for your new password
which you should type in (dots will echo for each character you type).
Press ENTER. Opus will then prompt you to type your password one more
time to verify it. Do so and press ENTER.
Type "Q" and press ENTER to quit the History menu. You should now find
yourself at the main menu again.
Type "G" for goodbye and press ENTER.
Your basic installation is now complete. The best course at this point
is to print out the Opus Technical Reference Manual and the Opus
Sysop Operations Manual, and spend a couple of days reading them!