CompuServe Messages

Being a local SysOp, what I had in mind was a vehicle for allowing full-duplex, multi-channel communications between a BBS and a users' terminal. This can be done with a single modem and serial port on each side of the connection. I have considered many alternative ways to implement this, including: Writing a stand-in for serial.device (similar to serial devices for add-on serial boards) that sends/receives I/O through a DNet channel which in turn multiplexes the data stream through an actual serial.device; writing a relatively simple program to provide access to Dnet through a simple PIPE:-like device (not sure this would work due to the nature of DOS i/o); etc. I like the former idea best, as you could easily put almost any BBS program online with DNet this way. Once the BBS's ASCII/menu/message system is accesable via Dnet, simply define the 'putfiles' and 'getfiles' client programs (supplied with DNet) as custom file transfer protocols within your specific BBS program. When putfiles/getfiles are RUN, the BBS menu system resumes normal operation immediately while the file transfers tick away.