remco@tnosel.UUCP (Remco Bruyne) (01/25/88)
Here follows a summary of a request for bulletin board programs: > Can anyone tell if bulletin board programs are available > for (V7 or sysV) UNIX-systems (sources required)? Public > domain would be ideal, but commercial may also be interesting. > > Please reply via e-mail to: mcvax!tnosel!remco. > > Ton Polderman & Remco Bruyne, TNO-IBBC > The Netherlands. ************************************************************************* A new release of the UCI version of the Rand Message Handling (MH) system is available for distribution. This release of MH is called MH 6.5 There are a lot of changes between MH.6 and MH 6.5; a lot of performance enhancements were made, there's also a lot of support for distributed mail (personal mail and bulletin bboards). Here are the details: - MH is in the public-domain - MH runs on a number of versions of UNIX (4.[123]BSD, V7, SYS5, and related variants, e.g., HPUX) [sorry, no support for SYS3.] - MH runs on top of a number of mail transport systems (MMDF-{I,II}, SendMail, stand-alone (with UUCP support)) Although MH is not "supported" per se, it does have a bug-reporting address, Bug-MH@ICS.UCI.EDU. Bug reports (and fixes) are welcome, by the way. There are also two ARPA Internet discussion groups: MH-Users@ICS.UCI.EDU and MH-Workers@ICS.UCI.EDU (somewhat analogous in charter to Info-UNIX and UNIX-Wizards). There are two ways to get a distribution: 1. If you can FTP to the ARPA Internet, use anonymous FTP to louie.udel.edu [10.0.0.96] and retrieve the file portal/mh-6.tar. This is a tar image (approx 4MB). The file portal/mh-6.tar.C is the tar image after being run through the compact program (approx 2.3MB). The file portal/mh-6.tar.Z is the tar image after being run through the compress program (approx 1.5MB). 2. You can send $75 to the address below. This covers the cost of a magtape, handling, and shipping. In addition, you'll get a laser-printed hard-copy of the entire MH documentation set. Be sure to include your USPS address with your check. Checks should be made payable to Regents of the University of California and must be drawn on U.S. funds. It's also a good idea (though not mandatory) to send a computer mail message to "Bug-MH@ICS.UCI.EDU" when you send your check via USPS to ensure minimal turn-around time. The distribution address is: Support Group Attn: MH distribution Department of Information and Computer Science University of California, Irvine Irvine, CA 92717 714/856-7553 Sadly, if you just want the hard-copies of the documentation, you still have to pay the $75.00. The tar image has the documentation source (the manual is in roff format, but the rest are in TeX format). ********************************************************************** The best unix conference around is on m-net which runs picospan. You can log on to m-net by calling (313)994-6333 and answering a few questions, no charge for the service and I believe they have both 300 and 1200 baud modems. ********************************************************************** I've got a script based, menu driven simple bulletin board for Sys V. Do you want it? John (is at: mcvax!attvcr!jtouzel) ********************************************************************** There are two UNIX based BBS systems in the public domain that I am aware of. 1) Is XBBS which is written in C. You can both see and download the source at 714-828-0288 2) UNaXcess also written in C. You can see it work and download from ncoast at 216-781-6201 I am running XBBS currently and am very happy with its performance. Michael Ashburn UNaXcess also seems to be in comp.sources.unix - Remco ********************************************************************** You bet -- AKCS is our full-featured networked conferencing system for Unix. It's commercial; cost is $250 in binary for the 3b1/3b2/Microport/SCO Xenix crowd; others by request (we're flexible). I will send a 'man' page and more info on request; the system can also be seen at the numbers below (this is from the US, I know it's a long call!) --- Karl Denninger | Data: +1 312 566-8912 Macro Computer Solutions, Inc. | Voice: +1 312 566-8910 ...ihnp4!ddsw1!karl | "Quality solutions for work or play" ********************************************************************** I saw an article in "Dr. Dobbs's Journal of Software Tools", that covers your subject in the June 1987 issue. The author was Jan L. Harrington, and she provided shell scripts for a UNIX BBS. The entire BBS software consists of a set of UNIX V Bourne shell scripts, some supporting text files, and a public-domain XMODEM file transfer program. It was originally developed on an AT&T 7300 and was being transferred to a 3B2 at the time the article was written. If you can't get the article, all source code is available on disk. To order, send $14.95 to Dr Dobb's Journal 501 Galveston Drive Redwood City, CA 94063 or call (415) 366-3600 ext 216. Ray Matrone ********************************************************************** May I recomend my BBS system called "SBBS." It is written in shell scripts but executes reasonable fast. It is also full featured. It has not been released to the net because it is still pending in comp.sources.unix but I be glad to email it. It really doesn't matter what version you have on your UNIX because for the most part SBBS is system independing with very little to no changes. It uses standard UNIX commands and bourne-shell builtins ONLY. No local specials. I guarentee it will work on your system with very little instalation effort. If you need to, please contact be at the below signature. [> Rd PS: It is public domain and free- I give full user suport. --- North Coast Computer Resources(ncoast) - 216-781-6201 (or 781-6202) UUCP: ...uunet!amdahl!sun!mandrill!ncoast!robertd **********************************************************************
manes@dasys1.UUCP (Steve Manes) (02/02/88)
In article <561@tnosel.UUCP> remco@tnosel.UUCP (Remco Bruyne) writes: > >Here follows a summary of a request for bulletin board programs: > One more contender (to be released Shareware in about 3 weeks): Magpie. Magpie is a tree-structured BBS ported from the DOS world. It supports bidirectional message threading, 50 defined conference areas, user mailboxes, variable-width terminals (soft right margin), word-wrapping editor, Xmodem/Ymodem/Ymodem Batch protocol, ANSI-COLOR (both IBM-ANSI and ISO-ANSI), IBM Extended Graphics (user selectable), an Archive Window for inspecting and downloading ARC and ZOO file innards, "hot key" message display break, user "bookmarks" to messages, a "KillDwarf"/menuless command set (roughly 45 commands active at the main prompt with a contextual help menu), a full-screen user editor, many, many bells and whistles. It's also quite fast. Binaries will be available for Microport V/AT, Xenix/286 and Xenix/386. Magpie is currently beta-testing on four NYC BBSes (three *ix and one DOS). Work is also proceeding on a MagNet interBBS protocol to tie all the Magpies together under a common server. The downside: Magpie is a tough bird for the new user to contend with. Unlike most BBSes, it really can't be run effectively without some study (about the same amount of time it takes a non-Unix person to learn how to use the Net software). There's an "interactive tutorial" on-line that will be standard equipment in the release version. Anyone interested should give the number in my .signature a ring. -- +----- + Steve Manes Roxy Recorders, Inc. NYC + decvax!philabs!cmcl2!hombre!magpie!manes Magpie BBS: 212-420-0527 + SmartMail: manes@magpie.MASA.COM
levine@atpal.UUCP (Sysop account) (02/06/88)
A brief description was provided of the Magpie BBS. I will add a subjective impression after being both user and Sysop. I ran an RBBS system for 1 year, helped develop Colossus and worked with dBBS. Magpie is a different kettle of fish. It is the ideal conferencing system, message postings rose from an average of 10-20 / month to over 1000. We accumulated over 15,000 messages in just over a year. The system is blazingly fast on xenix/386. New users are often intimidated, but building an interactive tutorial is a cynch. For a quick taste, give AtPal a call at 718-238-7855, or send mail at phri!bc-cis!lldev!atpal!levine.