The Pier Shareware 8/The Pier Shareware #8 (The Pier Exchange) (1996).ISO/051/pimp.txt

Text File | 1995-10-05 | 10KB | 201 lines

                                 P I M P
                   Personal Internet Mail Processor
                             Option Module
                                  for
             The Bread Board System BBS software by eSoft, Inc.


The Personal Internet Mail Processor is a 100% assembly language add-on
product for TBBS bulletin board systems.  PIMP is technically known as
an "option module" as it uses eSoft, Inc.'s option module interface to
very closely integrate operation with TBBS itself.  It loads as part of
the BBS software, and is active while the BBS is up and running.

PIMP is designed to connect a TBBS bulletin board systems to the global
Internet domain name e-mail system by simulating the UNIX-to-UNIX COPY
PROGRAM (UUCP) commonly used by UNIX systems to provide dial-up connections
to pass electronic mail.  In this way, PIMP makes a TBBS system LOOK like
a UNIX communicator, when talking to other UNIX systems.

UUCP has become something of a standard means of connecting to the Internet
on an intermittent basis to exchange mail and files.  Many Internet sites
offer low cost UUCP dial-up accounts.

Using PIMP and a UUCP dial-up account, you can link your TBBS system to
the Internet - allowing your callers to send and receive electronic mail
to callers on CompuServe, GEnie, America Online, Delphi, BIX, The Well,
other bulletin boards, and thousands of companies, Universities, and other
domain name e-mail sites now available in over 100 countries worldwide.

And when properly configured, the e-mail message will be delivered within
a few minutes of when it was entered locally on the TBBS system.

PIMP scans the message base for outbound mail on a configurable increment
of time varying from once each minute, to once each 255 minutes.  If any
caller has entered a message, PIMP scans this message out to files in the
proper format for delivery over the Internet.  It then dials your host,
and exchanges mail using the UUCP g protocol.  It picks up any mail that
may be waiting for your system, and downloads it.  Finally, it processes
this mail and adds incoming messages to your regular TBBS message base.

One of the main design tenets of PIMP was that Internet mail should work no
differently than local TBBS mail.  Given the vagaries of the Internet, it
probably falls short of that.  But it comes quite close.  Callers receiving
Internet mail will receive the usual notification at logon that they have
mail waiting.  The TO information is in the proper TO field, the FROM info is
in the proper FROM field, the SUBJECT information is in the proper SUBJECT
field.  Rather than tediously re-entering a domain address, they can in
most cases simply press R for reply - just as they would for any TBBS local
message.  They can search messages by subject, to, or from, just as they can
local mail.

PIMP even allows them to attach files as enclosures, just like local mail.
The Internet is not actually very good at passing files in this format, and
the convention is to convert binary files to text files for transports using
 rocess termed UUENCODING.  PIMP automatically UUENCODES binary file
attachments for transmission, and detects incoming UUENCODED files and
converts THEM back into binary file attachments in the TBBS message base. In
this way, callers can send and receive file attachments without doing any of
the uuencoding/decoding themselves.

MAILING LISTS

One of the more popular things that global Internet mail opens up is a
concept called "mailing lists."  Mailing lists are simply mail "reflectors,"
usually termed a List Server, that "bounce" messages to a list of recipients.
If everyone on the list receives every message to the list, and if in reply,
they themselves send the replies to the list, this forms, in effect, a very
informal bulletin board.  And this BBS is not dependent on where you are
actually calling.  Some list members will be on CompuServe, others on your
BBS, others at a University - all using different host systems, different
operating systems, different mail programs, but all bound by a common
discussion group - the mailing list.

PIMP obviously allows your callers to belong to mailing lists.  But it also
allows you to use your TBBS system as a List Server, and actually HOST mailing
lists.  Operating a mailing list does consume significant resource, but PIMP
allows you to maintain a list as large as you like.  And you don't have to
do the maintenance.  Following the Internet conventions, correspondents from
anywhere in the world can add themselves by simply addressing e-mail to [e-mail]. and specifying ADD or JOIN or SUBSCRIBE in the message body to join the list, and DELETE or REMOVE or UNSUBSCRIBE to
unsubscribe to the list.

FTPMAIL REQUESTS
One of the more popular features on the Internet is a program called File
Transfer Protocol or FTP.  FTP allows you to logon to a remote system, and
retrieve files that may be made available there.  Increasingly, a trend is
developing towrd FTPMAIL servers.  These systems allow you to simply send
an electronic mail request for a file, and the system sends a reply with
an attached UUENCODED file i et form.  PIMP allows you todo thi on
your TBBS system.  You can make any file available for FTPMAIL and anyone
can send a message to [e-mail] with the statement GET FILENAME
in the message body. PIMP will automatically check your public directories
for a matching file, and if found, e-mail the file in UUENCODED format in
reply - to anywhere in the world.  You "publish" directories either using
existing PICKUP statements in an existing TIMS.CTL file, or using another
file of any name you specify.  Only files found in these published
directories can be requested.  If no file match is found, PIMP sends a
note of apology instead.

BOUNCE MESSAGES

Another convention in the Internet is that of the bounce message.  If you
send e-mail to a site, and no one is actually active at the address you
specify, the system will normally send you a reply containing your original
message and noting that no such user is registered at this site.  PIMP checks
each incoming message against your TBBS userlog to see if the message has a
matching user.  If not, PIMP returns the message to the original sender,
with a note that no such user is registered at this site.

ALIASES
Also common in the Internet are universal users.  Every Internet site should
have a "postmaster" for example, and it is also common to receive mail
addressed to "sysadmin", "root", etc.  PIMP allows you to enter a series of
ALIASES in a special file titled ALIASIN.LST   These aliases are of the form:

postmaster=[e-mail]

All mail addressed to [e-mail] will instead be routed to the
userlog entry for THOMAS JEFFERSON.

NEWSGROUPS
One of the more popular features on the Internet is a system of shared message
conferences termed Usenet News Groups.  News groups operate very much like
FidoNet echomail.  The difference is that there are nearly 5000 of them and
they generate something on the order of 50 MB of traffic per day.  PIMP will
allow you to handle as many of these newsgroups as you like, and it will
automatically toss incoming newsgroups into topical message boards on your
TBBS system, and scan any replies out as newsgroup files to send to your host.
In this way, your callers can participate in newsgroups just as they would
in Fidonet Echomail conferences.

There are a few limitations to keep in mind with Newsgroups.  First, PIMP only
tosses newsgroups to bi-level topical style message boards.  TBBS allows up
to 250,000 of these topics per message board, so there is plenty of room
for ALL newsgroups there.  The TBBS message base is limited to 65,000
messages, and PIMP cannot expand that at all.  So you can quickly fill your
entire message base with newsgroup traffic.  Finally, PIMP must receive
newsgroups in uncompressed form.  On the internet, a program titled COMPRESS
is commonly used to compress newsgroups.  This is like PKZIP but it
doesn't do nearly as good a job of compressing data.  In fact, if you are
using V.42/V.42bis modems to do your UUCP connection, COMPRESS won't save you
anything.  The modems are actually better at compressing text data than
COMPRESS is.  And almost all hosts will provide newsgroups in either
compressed or uncompressed form at your request.

SPAWNING OTHER TASKS
Despite PIMP's very close integration with TBBS, it is actually a fairly
"open" structure program.  THe files it creates and uses for mail are
completely compatible with the files created by Thomas Dell's Waffle program,
and this file format in turn has become the defacto standard on DOS machines
for UUCP files.

Further, PIMP has a very flexible input/output directory structure, and the
unique ability to actually spawn any program written in eSoft's The Data Base
System (TDBS) development language.  It can spawn one TDBS application on
receipt of mai incoming, and a completely different one whenever it creates
outbound mail.  In this way, PIMP is quite "open" and you can add TDBS
applications to do virtually anything with Internet mail.


PRICING

CONTACT INFORMATION

PIMP was written by Jack Rickard, editor of Boardwatch Magazine

Boardwatch Magazine
8500 West Bowles Avenue, Littleton, CO 80123
Voice: [phone]
Fax [phone]
Data [phone]
FidoNet: 1:104/555
Internet: [e-mail]


  Support for PIMP is provided on the Advanced Systems BBS and by
  Advanced Systems Research or you may call for direct programmer support.

  PIMP is available on the Advanced System BBS for 230.00 U.S. and all
  Major Credit cards are accepted for immediate purchase on Download.

  Advanced Systems Research, Inc.
  1280 Terminal Way Bldg 39
  Reno, Nevada  89502
  [phone] (voice)
  Fidonet - 1:213/900
  Internet - [e-mail]

  The Advanced System BBS
  [phone]

  If you are not already registered on the Advanced System BBS you can gain
  access with the 1 time logon of:

  TBBS SYSOP
  password: SYSMON

  This will create a realname account with unlimited access and access to the
  SYSOP areas and demo areas.