mdavis@pro-sol.cts.COM.UUCP (11/25/87)
Thank you, Lisa Gronke (gronke@percival), for posting information about ProLine to the info-apple newsgroup. Your comments were informative and much appreciated. You brought up a few points that require "clearing up" -- so here goes. > What [ProLine] appears to be is two shells (a UNIX-like shell with 85+ > unix-like commands and an RSH with 11+ BBS-like single letter commands), a > text editor, public conferencing system (bulletins), private E-Mail, data > library (up/download) section, accounting (sysop) section and help files. A good description, from a cursory observation. > The networking is not described in any detail. The network scheme that ProLine uses to communicate with other ProLine sites, as well as with UNIX gateways, is discussed in the system's online manuals in tremendously painstaking detail. It's quite technical, and not suited for a general "fact sheet" about ProLine. Feel free to call pro-sol (619/281-7222, any time, any speed) and read to your heart's content. > "At the heart of every ProLine system is ModemWorks, a communications > programming language that allows Applesoft programmers to build modem- > related applications." > > ProLine Version 1.2 package is $195.50. It isn't clear to me whether > you also need ModemWorks, but the order form lists ModemWorks 2.0 > at $59.95. No, you don't need to buy ModemWorks to use ProLine. The base price of $195.50 includes all the software needed to run ProLine on your Apple. The reason ModemWorks is listed on the order form is that many ProLine operators are interested in writing applications to enhance their ProLine systems. ProLine comes with only a few files from ModemWorks programmer's disk--hardly enough technical information needed to design your own programs. The $59.95 cost of ModemWorks includes a full system disk and a 160 page, typeset manual. Although ProLine has only been commercially available for about seven months, many ProLine system operators have already written extra applications and have made them available to others on the net. > It runs on an Apple II+, Apple //e or Apple IIgs and REQUIRES a hard disk > and ProDOS compatible clock. The only internal modem supported is the > Apple-Cat II (212 card optional). Internal modem users make up a small percentage of our customers. When internal modems begin showing up for $150 that run at 2400bps, we'll support more of them. In the meantime, an external 2400bps (or faster) modem makes for a great BBS modem. The 9600bps Courier HST is a WONDERFUL modem for a dedicated ProLine system. > If you do call ProLine, I would try to find out the exact hardware > configuration they are running. My gut feeling is that you're gonna want an > accelerator card to make this run well. You're going to want an accelerator card no matter what kind of software you're running on an Apple! ProLine runs quite well on a 1MHz Apple, not too shabby for interpreted Applesoft. But *anything* will run GREAT if you can speed it up with an accelerator card. Up until last week, pro-sol (my ProLine site) had been running on a stock Apple IIe with 128k and a 10mb hard disk. I just recently popped a TransWarp into it. > Every user has his own directory area (the software has a logical limit of > 300 users) The 300 user limit is a memory limitation by the ADDUSER program, the program which creates new accounts. But the accounting system can handle an unlimited number of accounts (limited only by disk space). It would be a trivial matter to write a disk-based version of ADDUSER, but so far nobody has approached me with this as a problem. My site has about 150 active accounts (and the expiration software "cleans house" each morning at 3:20AM). I find it very difficult to get on to my own system with half of the system's current capacity. I don't want anymore members on my system! :-) > you might ask some pointed questions about large scuzzy hard disks and > multi-phone line capabilities. At the present, ProDOS 8 can only recognize 32mb volume sizes. ProLine can be configured to share volumes for storage (i.e., the user filesystem is on one volume, and all the conferencing or net news storage is on another). So large SCSI drives are not an issue. As for multi-phone line capabilities, are you talking about a single Apple with a multi-port configuration? That, no can do. ProLine is not a Diversi-Dial. Rainbow Telecommunications, Inc., of Austin, TX, sells a value-added version of ProLine that runs on a ring of CPUs (up to eight) from a Corvus network. I hardly recommend ProLine for a multi-user system though--and I'll tell you that flat out. Not because the software can't handle it; it can. But rather, for the $5000 tied up in multiple CPU's, and a networked hard-disk system, you might as well go out and buy yourself a real UNIX computer or a Mac II. Things might change when Apple comes out with AppleShare, their AppleTalk-based file server which is in beta test right now, from what I understand. > ...the trend here in Portland seems to be more a local 'internet'. We > have an active FidoNet (#105) and a number of linked semi-private unix > systems. We have a Opus BBS that is posting 10+ usenet newsgroups using > uuslave and a bunch of MS-DOS systems linking with uucp for mail using > UUPC. Two of our Atari systems running STadel have preliminary uucp links. I'm not sure why you offered this information, but ProLine can do all this, and does, on Apple computers. For example, I received your message, which came down from info-apple, in my mailbox here on pro-sol. I am now replying to it, and will send my reply from this IIe back to info-apple. Pro-sol will connect with a local UNIX host (crash) and exchange mail through pnet01. We're in the process of optimizing our network by creating pathalias databases for each site. ProLine's sendmail understands user and path aliases, domain routing, '@' or '!' syntax, distribution lists, and binary mail. Our network is still relatively young, but maturing quickly. Exciting things have happened, and continue to happen, on ProLine. If you're interested in finding out more, there is a conference (net/proline) on pro-sol whose members consist of ProLine system operators from all around North America. It's open to the public. --Morgan Davis UUCP: [ ihnp4 cbosgd hplabs!hp-sdd sdcsvax nosc ] !crash!pnet01!pro-sol!mdavis ARPA: crash!pnet01!pro-sol!mdavis@nosc.mil INET: mdavis@pro-sol.cts.com