GEnieLamp Vol 1/Num 5 August 1, 1992 Part 4 of 5 This article first appeared on GEnie and I was asked to post it on the Internet. My GE-Mail address is J.Penner1 and my internet address is jpenne@ee.ualberta.ca if you need to discuss something regarding this posting. I don't work for GEnie or anything to do with the Internet. ----8<----8<----8<----8<----8<-- cut here --8<----8<----8<----8<----8<---- [LIB]////////////////////////////// THE ONLINE LIBRARY / ///////////////////////////////// Running Your Own BBS! """"""""""""""""""""" >>> RUNNING YOUR OWN BBS! <<< """"""""""""""""""""""""""""" BBS SHARE/FREEWARE MAKES IT EASY! Have you ever wished that you could """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" run your own mini telecommunications service? Wouldn't it be interesting to control passwords, monitor discussions, and maintain a file download library? Well Apple II users are lucky to have quite a large selection of BBS options available to them. And some of these BBS's are even freeware or shareware. A search under the keyword "BBS" in the Apple II Roundtable library turns up several dozen files relating to running your own BBS. Some of these files are actual BBS programs. Some of the BBS options for the Apple II include the public domain "Prime BBS," the shareware "AppleNET BBS," and the shareware "Office BBS" system. Most of these BBS's use ModemWorks, a special set of modem ampersand routines develop by the Morgan Davis Group. To help you learn what GEnie has to offer in terms of Apple II BBS's, a new AppleWorks file titled "BBS.Files.bxy" has been prepared. This file lists all the BBS files available for downloading from the A2 Roundtable library, along with file descriptions of some of the more interesting sounding files. WHY A BBS? "Why would someone want to set up and maintain his or her own """""""""" BBS?" you might ask. Many user groups find that a BBS facilitates user group communications. But the BBS you set up need not be computer related. You could set up a BBS for your local school or PTA; you could set up a BBS for a boy scout or girl scout troop; you could set up a crime prevention BBS; you could set up a BBS to offer editing or desktop publishing services; you could set up a BBS just to learn about what it takes to run a BBS. Learning about bulletin boards need not even require a modem. Dean Esmay, chief Apple II Roundtable system operator (sysop) recommends KidMail BBS, a bulletin board simulator. (File number 8723: KidMail.bxy). This program simulates an actual BBS allowing multiple 'users' to 'sign on,' get a password, and leave electronic mail for other users. With the price of second hand Apple IIe's dropping down to the $200 to $300 range, the cost of setting up a BBS has likewise fallen dramatically. You don't even need a hard drive with some Apple II BBS systems. (Although almost all of them recommend at least two 5.25 inch, or one 3.5 inch disk drive.) The following information about the popular public domain Prime bulletin board system (BBS) was collected from Category 10, Topic 6, in the Apple II Roundtable message area. Prime BBS A while ago one of you asked us to step back and explain what """"""""" the Prime BBS was and what it had going for it. I was so busy uploading files and getting some beginner downloaders going that I neglected to respond to that posted message. Hopefully, I can rectify that here in a question and answer format. By doing a few of these, I hope I can answer the most frequently asked questions. Here we go.... Q: What is Prime? Is it new? Why haven't I heard of it before? A: The Prime BBS system has been around the Apple II world for 7-8 years now. It began as Alfa III and was supported right here on GEnie by Bob Garth and Vince Cooper. The program was advertised in classifieds of major magazines but most of its customers (including me) got in contact with the authors by way of the Demo/Ad called Alfa/EZ. The most recent support for the program was in the Smoke Signal Software area on America Online. Prime is a great BBS and now that its in the Public Domain, is the potential new sysop's _best_ option possible. I've seen a lot of shareware and p.d. BBS's over the years and nothing compares to Prime. This software is PERFECT for smaller BBS systems of the 10-200 user variety...great for user group boards, local Apple II support groups etc. It can handle much larger user numbers, but I find it perfectly suited for smaller groups. Q: What do I need to run it? A: You need any 64K Apple ][. I've run it or helped run it on ][+'s, //e's, Franklin Ace's, and IIGS's. You need two or more disk drives. A hard drive is not necessary...but recommended. I've run this software on everything from 4 Disk II's up to 200+ megs of hard drive all chained together off a RamFast and a TransWarp GS. In addition, you need a Novation AppleCat, Hayes Micromodem, Datalink 2400, or a Super Serial Card with an auto-answer 300, 1200, or 2400 external modem. Others may work, but may take some playing around... A Prodos compatible clock is nice but not mandatory. Q: What are the limitations of Prime and why did it go public domain? A: The most recent owner of Prime (Danny Haynes) found that he and the others responsible for maintaining Prime simply did not have time to update the system. They concluded that Prime would have the best chance of growing in the hands of a new generation of Prime Sysops....so, they decided to offer it to potential Prime sysops for FREE! Prime is currently a full featured BBS. We'll talk about all those features a bit later, but we might as well get the limitations out in the open first because these are the things that we hope new Prime sysops will help to rectify. 1. Prime requires a Super Serial Card (SSC) (even in a GS). Bob Garth found that the Apple modem port didn't do things quite the same way as the SSC and never supported the port. Paul Parkhurst has this problem 'almost' fixed but we all need to call him and encourage him to finish that goodie. 2. Prime's transer (Xfer) system is GREAT. However, support for newer protocols is lacking. It does handle normal Xmodem, Xmodem CRC, Prodos Xmodem, Standard Xmodem, (with Binary II for Apple users). Ymodem and Zmodem would be nice if someone has the ability to take it on. Andy Nicholas posted once that he had written a Zmodem driver for Prime but we've not tracked that down yet. 3. While Prime sysops across the country once had a networking scheme set up, this never became an official part of Prime. Prime's strong point are its elegance and simplicity. I'm sure future sysops will be writing schemes to network but they don't currently exist. 4. I've never heard of Prime's compatibility with newer 9600 baud modems. New drivers or empirical set-ups may need to be developed for these. That's about it! Not really too limited is it? Frankly, I've never found any of these detrimental to my BBS. Q: What features does Prime offer? A: Prime is a full-featured BBS. I'll summarize only a few here.... 1. Hot key menus of either the autoformatting internal type or fancy ones made from external text files of your design. 2. Multiple Boards, Email, full line editors for all posts and mail. New message scans. Autosignature capability. Private posts can be set. Autodelete old messages at sysop controllable levels to minimize sysop interaction required. Many more options. 3. Feedback commands, sysop page and chat mode. 4. User can set configuration from normal to expert turning menus on and off. 5. User search and listing built in. 6. G(iant) file reader to allow readers to read any text files the sysop chooses to put online. 7. Complete transfer system capable of tracking up to 215,622 files and 10 line description of each in up to 99 libraries of 99 files each in each of 22 prefixes! New file scans can be set up in multiple combinations for your users convenience. 8. BASIC programs and Games can easily be modified to run with the Prime BBS system. Many examples have been uploaded here to GEnie. The modifications are pretty easy and lots of fun. These include user Voting Booths, BBS databases, Adventure games, etc. Q: What does the Sysop have to work with? A: A lot! There is a completely menu driven maintenance system. The sysop simply keys up a Control-C from the keyboard and can then menu his/her way to anything in Prime that needs attention. Among these are: 1. Board and Menu editors. 2. Prefixes (you can put any part of Prime on any prefix on your system). 3. User time restrictions can be set by time limits (if you have clock) or number of bytes transmitted if you don't. 4. You can create and toggle on or off Pre and Post new user messages and Pre and Post login in messages. 5. You can create Theme messages at the beginning of each board to keep things going in a reasonable thread. 6. Email and transfer have their own complete set of utilities... all accessible with the Control-C when you've entered their area. 7. Remote sysoping available on ALL features so you can take care of the system from a remote location or have a co-sysop care for the system while you're on vacation. Q: What about SECURITY? Can I closely control what users see what on my BBS? A: Yes, more than you will ever need. There are 9 user class codes for gross set ups. In addition, each user has a 19 byte index string that determines what he can do on your BBS. Each of these bytes can be set from A to Z. You can then tie EVERY MENU KEY to one of these bytes and levels and therefore control who can execute (or even SEE) these commands. In addition, the sysop can give users ability to post private messages, make entire boards restricted, record phone numbers that the system will not accept for a user, allow or disallow login of new users, offer a side door entry with proper password.... and allow or disallow the use of alias's for users. All these things are handled with ease by way of the comprehensive menu and user data editors. Q: Who is this Goose fellow? A: Nobody special.. I've been using and enjoying Prime (and its predecessors) for nearly 8 years. Its been so much fun that I've learned just enough about it to be dangerous. I hate to see such a strong BBS die just because nobody knows about it. I'll help anyone who tries to use it. No guarantees, but hopefully this is a GREAT way to start small inexpensive pockets of Apple II users. My old trusty II+ sits in the corner with a castoff 30 megabyte Seagate hanging there serving as our user group communication port. How about it? Can you use your old hardware to create your own private user group? Go for it! .... (W.GOOSEY, CAT10, TOP6, MSG:121) These are the minimum necessary files to run the Prime BBS: [*][*][*] Number: 18837 Name: PRIME.DOCS.BXY Address: W.GOOSEY Date: 920613 Approximate # of bytes: 142720 Number of Accesses: 102 Library: 39 Description: This file is the documentation for the Prime BBS system for the Apple ][. This is a very mature BBS that has been around for several years. The entire BBS comes in 7 packed files. This file is the entire documentation as published by Smoke Signal software when the BBS was commercial. The BBS has all the desirable features for the Apple ][ sysop. Boards, Games, Vote modules, Quote system, Other BBS databases, etc. Written in Basic (using included powerful amper set) so you can modify it or modify other Basic programs for use as external programs. Keywords: BBS,Public Domain,PD,Prime,Manual,Documentation,ProTree,Smoke Signal [*][*][*] Number: 18894 Name: SYSTEM.BXY Address: W.GOOSEY Date: 920617 Approximate # of bytes: 75136 Number of Accesses: 46 Library: 39 Description: This archive contains all the needed system files for the Prime BBS package recently released to the Public Domain by Danny Haynes. Originally written by Bob Garth. Excellent BBS for any Apple ][. In addition to this file you will also need PrimeManual.shk, Install.shk, Xfer1.shk, Xfer2.shk, and the optional Source1.shk and Source2.shk. Great BBS. Best I've ever seen for simple, but powerful operation. Keywords: Prime, BBS, modem, SmokeSignal,PD, Public Domain [*][*][*] Number: 18896 Name: XFER1.BXY Address: W.GOOSEY Date: 920617 Approximate # of bytes: 48128 Number of Accesses: 42 Library: 39 Description: This archive comprises the first of two Xfer system disks for the Prime BBS system. Other files needed for this BBS are PrimeManual.shk, System.shk, Install.shk, xfer2.shk and the optional Source1.shk and Source2.shk. Great Apple II BBS! Keywords: Prime, BBS, Modem, SmokeSignal,Public Domain [*][*][*] Number: 18897 Name: XFER2.BXY Address: W.GOOSEY Date: 920617 Approximate # of bytes: 77696 Number of Accesses: 48 Library: 39 Description: This archive is the second part of the Prime BBS xfer system. This is a great Apple ][ BBS. Other files you need are the Primemanual.shk, Install.shk, System.shk, Xfer1.shk, and the optional Source1.shk and Source2.shk. Keywords: Prime, BBS, modem, SmokeSignal,Public Domain