CompuServe Thread

> Yes, BBX does support multi-line, and has a multi-line conference mode, > You can also 'send' messages from node to node if you like. Well, well, well. (^_^) You wouldn't know offhand how many serial lines it's capable of supporting? (C-Net is limited to 24, while DLG Pro is limited only by available ports) (This might be remotely impossible) If I were to connect several Amigas in a LAN configuration, would I be able to use BBX to link them together for a mega-multi-line system (replete with file servers and separate message bases for each machine)? (I know, that's probably too far out, but what the hey, it couldn't hurt. ^_^) You know, if it weren't for the lack of FidoNet/UseNet message compatability, I'd probably go with BBX to set up my (moderate future) system. Once Steve adds this capability (if he does ^_^) I'll take a long, hard look at BBX. Until then, I'm strongly in favour of DLG Pro.

Dale, Thanks for your response. I'm looking forward to BBX then. BBS-PC! is getting more and more frustrating as the years go by. Luckily it has been rock-solid for me. – Don – via Whap!

Christopher, I've kept Viva! Amiga! running for almost 6 years with BBS-PC! and am reluctant to change unless I can take a big step forward. Do you have any details on Proteus or know where I can get them? I'd sure like to see a features list, perhaps an installation and maintenance demo module and, of course, info on how to reach its creaters. I come from the mainframe world where I have been used to refering to it as "overlapped I/O" for 25 years. Overlapping I/O with processing or other I/O is one of the things multi-tasking is all about. It provides maximum throuput for all data entering or leaving a computer. I kinda took it for granted that Amiga programs would use overlapping techniques only to be disappointed. One of the biggest disappointments is Whap! which brings the serial port to a dead stop while it writes data to a disk file, even worse, to SLOWLY fill in a wedge in the file download pie chart!! – Don – via Whap!

A long time ago, I wrote a review of BBS-PC! for Amazing Computing. I don't have the program any more (I sent it to Jez San, 'cause he said he needed a BBS program), but I *think* were some data structures in the back of the BBS-PC manual. Maybe their file format is documented there? Steve

Steve, Robert Miles, who operates the Excalibur BBS in Dallas, has done lots of programming to enhance BBS-PC. His BBS number is 2143412775, and I'm sure he would be helpful to you in any way he could. Betty

Steve, On BBS-PC! to BBX file conversion: – BBS-PC! contains a description of each file, the time and date of upload, the uploader's name, the number of times accessed ,file type, path status, whether file was uploaded remotely or locally, file size and directory info. I would like to preserve all of it. There is a utility called BBSINDEX which can be set up to dump all of this info to an ASCII file, so all that we (sysops) would need is a way to feed the ASCII info back into a program to rebuild the file base in BBX format. – I don't know of any similar utility for managing the message base or user records. It is possible in BBS-PC! to dump all of the messages to an ASCII text file using F10 to define the file and then letting BBS-PC! record a hand guided trip through all of the messages. I use this technique to dump off messages that I use for creating my "best of" sections. The "best of" menus and text files are then created from an ARexx program with this ASCII text file as input. With appropriate arexx commands in BBX, an ARexx program could pump messages from this ASCII text file into a BBX data base. – Some years back, I tried to hack out the struct of the user file and may still have it here someplace. I'm not sure that I have the key file though. MSS published the file structs in an early version but the current one is different, so I had to guess at a lot of things. It won't be bullet proof. At any rate, it is vital that all of the user file info be transported to a new BBS. Unlike the method I mentioned of capturing messages, there is no easy way to capture user information in a text file (no non-stop command when listing). With 450 users, it would be a long and tedious process to capture all of the users to a text file. By message base isolation, I wanted something UN-like BBS-PC! I would like to put different message bases into different files. Mutli-tasking of file handling may not be necessary but it seems to me [ MORE ]

[ continuation ] the best way of getting maximum throughput on the serial line. There is no excuse in a multi-tasking machine for a file transfer (upload or download) to pause for disk activity. When downloading, the data should always be in memory before the previous block has completed; on uploads, a completed block should be "handed off" to a disk task/process to be written to a file without making the serial port wait for the results. The same principles apply to non-stop message dumping and ASCII send message uploading. If you have done this without multi-tasking then multi-tasking is certainly not needed. It just seemed to me the best way to do it. The need for maximum throughput is more obvious now that everyone is going to 9600+ bps modems. "single-file download targeting" – being able to target a single file to a specific user or group of users without making it a general download file. I have 3 beta testers that could log on to the BBS at their convenience and download new program versions if I could target the file to just them. There are a number of other people that I would like to target files to, usually not on a regular basis. I'd like to be able to tell the BBS that this file may only be downloaded by person x. X could be an alias for a group predefined as persons a, b and c. This concept could also be applied to the message base as a distribution list feature. For instance, the president of our local user group could send a single message to an alias representing a list of all members or of just the officers, and have that message marked for those people when they logged on. "background statistical utilities" – my most valuable one is BBSINDEX. It doesn't interfere with BBS operations and I run it once per hour (using NAZCRON) to create my online files list. The list is, at most, only 1 hour old at any time. BBS-PC! provided a background stats utility, but, unlike BBSINDEX, it is bug ridden and crashes the system. I guess that if you are not going to disclose the file structures, you will have to [ MORE ]

[ continuation ] provide these. File struct disclosure. If you are keeping the file structures to yourself, I hope you are providing a program similar to BBSFIX. I would have given up SYSOPing years ago if it hadn't been for BBSFIX. Too many things go wrong too often. While BBSFIX doesn't always fix everything, it has always gotten me back online after a crash. Also there should be some way to extract ALL inforamtion from all files as ASCII text and allow ASCII text files to pump all data back into the database. An offline (background) utility would be ideal, one that doesn't interfere with the bbs, but ARexx commands in the bbs would be OK as long as they may be used when someone is conneced and will not interfere with the ongoing session. I'd appreciate a list of BBX features if you have a feature file handy. As you can tell, I'm not going to jump into something new without knowing what I'm getting into. Thanks for your efforts. By the way, I run Viva! Amiga! (609-227-8278) in Southern New Jersey (10 miles from Philadelphia). Give a call if you are curious. 9600bps, open system and FREE. – Don – via Whap!

Sounds like your external program support (aka DOORS) is just what I need. I wrote a program awhile back for the CLI that would search a CD-Rom for Amateur Radio callsigns, and then print the information (address) to the console. Would probably have to change it a little since it uses command line arguments. Hmmm….file catalogs for a CD-Rom. Depends on how the catalog is generated. Most BBS systems have you go in and enter the descriptions and other information manually. If you want to take the time and write a program to generate the file listing automatically, it can be done but most Sysops don't have the time or programming experience to do so. The 'Baud Bandit BBS' system by Richard Stockton probably has the best implementation of a CD-Rom door I've seen so far, using an Arexx program. Basically, it assumes that you already know what files you want to download from a file listing of the CD usually provided on the CD itself. Then the Arexx program lets you go in the CD-Rom drive and its sub-directories just like any other device. You then get a paged listing of the files in that directory. Then you can mark what files you want to download, go into the next directory, mark more files, etc., and then download the whole bunch. Get the idea? Using a file listing for a CD-Rom can be impraticle unless it is easy and automatic. With thousands of files and dozens of directories, it can be a real pain. John – K7KB (via Whap!)