ChaseRunner@cup.portal.com (Ric C Helton) (12/07/88)
I am a SpartaDOS 3.2 user, and run the Carina II BBS software for my board, Freestyle. I am interested in the develoment of ICD's SpartaDOS X cari specifically, how compatible it will be with Sparta 3.2 (not very, I am afraid!). [Freestyke runs on a 130XE (unmodified), 256K MIO, two 10meg Tandon hard disks and a hayes-compat. modem.] Any news on the cartridge, or any of ICD's other products, would be much appreciated! -Ric Helton aka ChaseRunner (Fast_Forward on Freestyle, at 404/546-8256)
Eric_Stewart_Plent@cup.portal.com (12/08/88)
Ric, SpartaDOS X should be completely compatible with SpartaDOS 3.2 in all but very minor points. I do know that, in current form, Carina II will NOT run with SpartaDOS X. However, Jerry Horanoff is just about to release a new version of Carina II that will allow the use of SpartaDOS X. One main advantage to this is that you will get approximatly 5K more programming space in BASIC. This new update is, according to Jerry, to be released "within 2 weeks". I also run a Carina II BBS, and I am always interested in hearing from other Carina II SysOps. If you are likewise interested, give my board a call at 201-938-6906 (NJNEW through Pursuit) and we will CHAT...
ajy2208@ultb.UUCP (A.J. Yarusso ) (12/10/88)
Nice to see another Carina II SysOp on the net! I ran Carina I from two years and then went over to Carina II as soon as that came out. My MIO is currently being repaired at ICD, so my board is temporarily down. I used to run it as Phantasmal Alchemy BBS before I came to school, but I have since changed the name to Memory Alpha. I have spoken to Jerry Horanoff many many times and know him quite well. Because I knew Jerry well, I beta-tested Carina II for him (along with a few other people). I am also Co-Author of the RoboWar II program Jerry offers with Carina II. Jerry now works for ICD and he has given me a lot of information about SpartaDos X. Jerry got his hands on a beta-version of the cartridge and he has made Carina II compatible with it. I have yet to order the Sparta X (I am a poor college student), but I do know a bit about it. It's a 64K cartridge that only takes up 8K of memory in the computer. It is in the same casing the R-Time 8 cart is in, so you can plug another cartridge on top of it. You can get a directory of the cartridge like you would of any drive. I have a lot more information on it, if you'd like. From what I understand, Jerry has plans to make Carina II compatible with the XEP80 (which I am fortunate to have). The networking should also be finished by now (I have an earlier version of networking that only works with message areas). Jerry plans to release the new version of Carina II free for registered Carina II owners within a few months time. I'll let you know more as I hear more myself. The system I run consist of: 256K 800XL, 256K MIO, ADaptek 4000a, Seagate ST225, Microscience 20meg drive, R-time 8 clock cart, INCOMM 2400 baud modem, and other misc. equipment (lots that isn't used on the BBS, such as 3 drives, 2 other 8-bit computers, etc.). Albert Yarusso ajy2208@ultb.RIT.EDU
RCH@cup.portal.com (Ric C Helton) (12/12/88)
Thanks Albert, for your posting regarding Carina II. I have been running my Carina II system, Freestyle, since June. We have really been pleased. I will look forward to hearing about the new update.... ATTN: CARINA II OWNERS RE: PROGRAM MODS What modifications have you made to your BBS programs? What mods are your favorites? I wrot a "primetime" modifications that allows users a limited amount of their daily time limit after 6pm, so that new users calling in the evening hours can get through more easily. The full time limit resets along with their daily time rejuv after midnight... We have also snatched several mods off of GEnie, as it seems to have a loyal Carina following there. One of the most useful mods we came across added a "wait screen" function, so that when the "s" key is pressed, the BBS displays a list of as-yet unvalidate uploads. p I am looking forward to hearing from other Carina II sysops! Ric Helton RCH@cup.portal.com or sun!portal!cup.portal.com!RCH Freestyle BBS 404/546-8256
Eric_Stewart_Plent@cup.portal.com (12/12/88)
Al, I remember seeing your name on the title screen of RoboWar, as well as on Jerry's board. I downloaded the new Carina II update last night from Jerry's board, but could not get it to work as advertised. It kept locking up in different areas, and the functions listed in the README file were not working as they were described. I will try messing with it again, because I want to be able to use the Networking when it is FINALLY available. Do you know when Jerry is going to get it out? Now that 2.2 is out, I assume he has more time to work on Networking (which I REALLY want!) Eric Plent Eric_Stewart_Plent@cup.portal.com The Sietch * 201-938-6906 * NJNEW Voice-201-938-9365
Eric_Stewart_Plent@cup.portal.com (12/12/88)
Al, I forgot to mention, if you are interested, what my system is made up of. I have the following hardware: 1 130XE with 320K upgrade 1 256K MIO 1 Avatex 2400 modem 1 Seagate St-225 hard drive 1 Adaptec 4000a controller card 1 R-Time 8 1 BASIC XE Running Carina 2.0 (for now, until I get 2.2 working properly.) Eric Plent Eric_Stewart_Plent@cup.portal.com
ajy2208@ultb.UUCP (A.J. Yarusso ) (12/13/88)
I have done a tremendous amount of work on Carina II in the way of modifications. Jerry and I came very close to releasing a utility disk for CII but once I got to school, my MIO broke and I haven't yet received it back from ICD. Once I do, and get my board back running, I will be working full speed on the utility disk. here are some of the programs I have written already that will be on it: o A program to automatically delete accounts by their age, in either days (say, accounts 60 days and older), or older than a certain date. Carina 2.2 (just released by Jerry) already has a few mods I have done, including the [M]ark Permanent feature that prevents anyone a SysOp marks Permanent from being deleted. What makes this program useful is that it can be run from the BACKUP.BAT file as well as interactively. o A program to print that prints the password file to the printer in a very nice formatted ouput. I went all out on this program, and in addition to the many options you can change, it also prints two pages of BBS Statistics after printing the users (or, you can simply print the Stats by themselves if that is all you want). o After seeing a couple of 'Top 10' programs come out, I wrote one of my own. Again, I may have added TOO many features, but just use the ones you want! You can have from the Top 5 to 30, toggle which areas it collects stats for (Posts, uploads, downloads, and Calls), and also have it print all sorts of BBS Stats. I wrote some ML routines for this program to make it as fast as the other Top 10 programs (Mine does a heckuva lot more!). This program can also be run from the BACKUP.BAT file. o Ever want to add or delete keywords in a file area? I wrote a program that allows editing of any file area's keywords, including those areas that do not even have key words. A SysOp can change the keywords on the entire BBS, but a SigOp can change them just in his/her section. o Ever want to delete certain voting polls? That is possible now also. It works similiar to the keyword program in that a SysOp can view the polls on the entire BBS, while a SigOp running the program in his section can only see the polls in that section. This has been implemented into the MAKEVOTE module. o I modified the FILEVAL program so files (before they are validated) can be Moved (or copied) to another file sections. Often times, someone will upload a file to the wrong area, so this is useful. In addition, the description can be edited before the file is validated. o I wrote a SysMenu program which is now implemented in version 2.2 of Carina. This is a VERY flexible menu program that allows you to run any other BASIC program. It has a built in editor, and for each Basic program you set the description (as appears in the menu) and the filename (including path). SYSMOD has been modified slightly with an added keypress (M) that runs this program. o For USEREDIT I added two new features. One, the [M]ake Permanent, I mentioned before. The second is a feature that allows you to [S]earch for new users. This is VERY useful (and fast) because New Users can occupy deleted records as well as being appended to the end of the password file and previously either the SysOp would have to keep track of which records he deleted, or go through the entire password file every once in a while to see if any new users slipped into deleted slots. I know there are other mods, but it is too early in the morning to remember the rest of them. I used to run a Carina I BBS, Phantasmal Alchemy, in Connecticut. I had a tremendous amount of mods implemented into the BBS and available for SysOps to download. I felt kind of sad going over to Carina II and losing all that work, but I've made up for it with what I've done (so far) with CII. I intend to do more! I would guess that the utility disk will be out in late January, early February. Oh yes, I mentioned that Version 2.2 is out. You can download that from Jerry Horanoff's board (Carina Headquarters) if you have access to his Carina II SIG. If you're a registered owner, tell Jerry and he'll give you access. The phone # is 815-874-1836. I talked to him for a while the other day (almost 2 hours Long distance! Ack!) and version 2.2 fully supports the XEP80.. If one has a TV and a monitor, you can have two different displays. One will be the Full Page user edit window, and the other will be the BBS. The Full page screen still uses 40 columns (because it uses display lists) and the other screen (what the users see) is in 80. Very impressive! (Almost looks like true multitasking) Enough for now, I hope no one's fallen asleep. Albert Yarusso Usenet - ajy2208@ultb.RIT.edu Bitnet - ajy2208@RITVAX (I need a .signature file!)
ajy2208@ultb.UUCP (A.J. Yarusso ) (12/13/88)
Eric,
Jerry will be working on Networking and will hopefully have it done
sometime in the next couple of months. I am pushing him for it, as he
already has the most difficult part done (the actual calling of other
BBSs, logging on, and sending a file). From what he told me, the
message base networking is already done. I have a preliminary version
of networking, but I have as of yet to try it out with another Carina II
SysOp to see how well it works.
We were planning to put all the Networking mods on the utility disk,
when that comes out. I am not sure if that is still Jerry's plan,
although it would appear so. I'll ask next time I call him.
Unfortunately, Jerry is not on USENET.
Albert Yarusso
Usenet - ajy2208@ultb.RIT.edu
Bitnet - ajy2208@RITVAX
(still need that .signature file!)