greg@hoss.unl.edu (Lig Lury Jr.) (05/23/91)
grohol@novavax.UUCP (John Grohol) writes: >ENT0022@OUACCVMB.BITNET writes: >>Hello everyone, I am interested to setup me own BBS but I do not have any >>experiment. Could anyone provide me the information regarding to how to >>setup BBS, what kind of BBS software I should use. What kind of thing I >>should aware of. >I can only assume you are running some kind of Apple II (since ya posted >it here...) So that leaves you with about 6 choices, 2 of which are >the only real programs to run on an Apple II for a BBS. >GBBS Pro (from L&L) is the "standard" of Apple II BBS's. It's been >around for years... Its relatively easy to program in, but has >lousy support (my experience). It also has language limitations >which we programmers constantly have to work around (ie.- no >integers greater than 32,000). No arrays is also a major problem. Also I am attempting to provide unofficial GBBS "Pro" support through a mailing list. >However, with a lot of tweaking, its >a nice program. I ran a GBBS board for 2 years. Yeah. I have lots of modifications to my board. Problem is, if you want a good board, you must make modifications. Out of the box, it has bugs, which still persist on the L&L Support BBS. >Metal is the newcomer. All I've heard is good things about it. I have >seen a number of boards using Metal, and they don't look or act much >differently than GBBS. I haven't seen code for Metal. METAL code is very similar to ACOS (GBBS's language) code, but with some changes and extensions. I have some problems with it so far. First, it doesn't have message files, which I feel is ACOS's strongest point. Second, it currently doesn't work with my modem. (I'm thinking about getting a new one anyway. My sister can use my DataLink 2400 on her IIe.) Third, I still don't have a manual, so I can't even begin to attempt to write my own driver for the modem. Since it is still fairly new, it has bugs. While it can handle emulations, it still doesn't recognize a ? in PSE mode as an _. So far the only program I have found that recognizes that properly is ProTERM. (!) It can be a real good program, as soon as all the bugs are worked out of it. I don't know what the status of the Assembly ability is right now, but I was told it didn't work on the version I got. I've been taking a look at ProLine as well, but it has one major problem: it pretty much requires a hard drive, which I don't have. I'm trying to shoehorn it into a 2 800K disk setup, but work is slow. I likes a minimum of a 5 MB partition. GBBS "Pro" can be made to run on two 3.5" disks, with some popular and free modifications like modifying the SYSTEM.LOG so that it doesn't start eating up all your disk space. At the current time, my recommendation is GBBS "Pro". Just make sure you are running the right operating system with it. Several unexplainable phenomenon kept occurring with me until I updated my ProDOS 8 to v1.8. (Version 1.7 of ProDOS made GBBS "Pro" think that the assignment clr$=chr$(12)+chr$(0)+chr$(0) was a "String Too Long" error at the first + at startup, but not on subsequent runs. It had Bird's Better Bye installed.) >My two cents worth... I wish people would keep their pennies to themselves. Everyone and their dog is adding lines like that to their messages, and it becomes very tiresome. If I had a penny for every time I saw the above or some variation thereof... I'd be the person Steven Wright made a reference to. > John M. Grohol || Nova University - Ft. Lauderdale, FL > Internet: grohol@novavax.nova.edu || Center for Psychological Studies There are also several public domain/shareware AppleSoft BBS programs. Three off the top of my head are Magic City Micro, Sonic BBS, and AppleNET. There used to be an MCM board here (which one person described it as a "GBBS wannabe"), a Sonic BBS later moved to GBBS "Pro", and now the sysop is trying his hand at making his own "C" BBS, and there is an AppleNET currently running here in Lincoln, NE, though I have yet to call it. I'm planning on writing a comparison article on "The Big Three" in II Sysops in the second issue. -- /// ____ \\\ "The major problem--one of the major problems, for there are | |/ / \ \| | several--one of the many major problems with governing \\_|\____/|_// people is of whom you get to do it, or more to the greg \_\\\/ hoss.unl.edu point, who gets people to let them do it to them."
alfter@nevada.edu (SCOTT ALFTER) (05/24/91)
In article <1991May22.190148.5657@unlinfo.unl.edu> greg@hoss.unl.edu (Lig Lury Jr.) writes: >There are also several public domain/shareware AppleSoft BBS programs. >Three off the top of my head are Magic City Micro, Sonic BBS, and >AppleNET. There used to be an MCM board here (which one person described >it as a "GBBS wannabe"), a Sonic BBS later moved to GBBS "Pro", and now >the sysop is trying his hand at making his own "C" BBS, and there is an >AppleNET currently running here in Lincoln, NE, though I have yet to call >it. I started my system, the Skunk Works BBS, on a system called Warp Six about a month ago. It died horribly on me about three weeks after going online, so I switched to AppleNet v1.4a. It seems to be a somewhat solid system, but it did have a few small bugs that needed fixing before going public. AppleNet's biggest problem out-of-the-box is that it has no email system, though there are several mail systems you can add. GEnie has a bunch of AppleNet add-ons in the A2 RT; I grabbed a voting booth, call-back validation, and a conversion of the old Super Star Trek (which was hella buggy; never use HTAB or VTAB with ModemWorks!). People are saying the transfer section has some problems, but I wonder if that might be caused by the accelerator (RocketChip). I'm still playing with different combinations of settings to find something that will work. Scott Alfter-----------------------------_/_---------------------------- Ask me about SoftDAC! Play Mac sounds / v \ on your Apple II! Internet: alfter@uns-helios.nevada.edu ( ( Apple II: GEnie: S.ALFTER \_^_/ the power to be your best!
mdavis@pro-sol.cts.com (Morgan Davis) (05/24/91)
In-Reply-To: message from greg@hoss.unl.edu } I've been taking a look at ProLine as well, but it has one major problem: } it pretty much requires a hard drive, which I don't have. This sounds to me like it's more of a major system problem for *you* than a problem with the product. ProLine requires a hard disk because it incorporates about 1.5MB of software (it comes on 2 800K disks). Running a BBS on floppies only is like normal computer use with only a cassette recorder. UUCP: crash!pro-sol!mdavis AOL, BIX: mdavis ARPA: crash!pro-sol!mdavis@nosc.mil GEnie: m.davis42 INET: mdavis@pro-sol.cts.com ProLine: mdavis@pro-sol
ericmcg@pnet91.cts.com (Eric Mcgillicuddy) (05/25/91)
The latest version of W6 is 1.7 or so, contact the writer for an update. The program is Freeware, so you can't beat the price. It had some problems running on a GS, but the IIe it is currently on seems stable enough. Might have been a II+, not overly sure. I will contact the author and see if he is willing to send it to .binaries.apple2. UUCP: bkj386!pnet91!ericmcg INET: ericmcg@pnet91.cts.com
taob@micor.ocunix.on.ca (Brian Tao) (05/25/91)
alfter@nevada.edu (SCOTT ALFTER) writes: > I started my system, the Skunk Works BBS, on a system called Warp Six > about a month ago. It died horribly on me about three weeks after > going online, so I switched to AppleNet v1.4a. It seems to be a Jim Ferr still supports Warp Six BBS software. The Apple Canada Techlink BBS in Toronto runs on W6 and Jim himself is the sysop. Last I heard, it was on version 7.0, and Jim is working on ironing out a few bugs with the GS serial port code. -- Brian T. Tao *B-) | taob@micor.ocunix.on.ca | "Though this be 2705-1510 Riverside | - or - | madness, yet there Ottawa, ON K1G 4X5 | taob@micor.uucp | is method in 't."
cchen@xcluud.sccsi.com (Conway Chen) (05/27/91)
ericmcg@pnet91.cts.com (Eric Mcgillicuddy) writes: > The latest version of W6 is 1.7 or so, contact the writer for an update. The > program is Freeware, so you can't beat the price. It had some problems runnin > on a GS, but the IIe it is currently on seems stable enough. Might have been > II+, not overly sure. I will contact the author and see if he is willing to > send it to .binaries.apple2. > > INET: ericmcg@pnet91.cts.com I had worked with Warp 6 for maybe 6 months, and changed it greatly, but what's different about 1.7 and previous versions? -- Conway Chen cchen@xcluud.sccsi.com uunet!nuchat!xcluud!cchen
szatezal@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Shane M Zatezalo) (06/05/91)
drudman@hpcc01.HP.COM (Drew Rudman) writes: >Also, if I remember correctly, the upgrade from 1.3j to 2.0d was priced >at $25 in an upgrade letter I received a year or so back. Seems I've >already lost my free upgrades. >Don't get me wrong, I like the product (ACOS/MACOS/METAL) but I dislike the >people responsible for it. WAIT A SEC... don't associate Lance with TC Wilson. Lance has to do with Acos. TC Wilson did Macos (now unsupported) and has now wrote, from scratch, M.E.T.A.L., which is similar to, but totally blows away acos. >[ Call... 9600bps/60meg ][ Drew Rudman ] >[ The Charge ][ ] >[ Apple ][ IBM ][ Internet: drudman@hpiosa.corp.hp.com ] >[ (415) 321-4713 ][ The Charge BBS: Axe Slinger (#1) ]
mikep@pro-berks.cts.com (System Administrator) (06/06/91)
In-Reply-To: message from greg@hoss.unl.edu >If ProLine had a way to tell it it was running off of multiple disks >instead of one partiton then I wouldn't be having so many problems. Seems >the largest the system can get is 32 MB. Alot of that is going to be used >for your networking "needs". "Out of the box" Proline will use three partitions. 32 MB for the root directory, 32 MB for the file section, and another 32 MB for the message base. It is really easy to add several more 32 MB partitions for files. All you have to do is change one or two lines. The smallest configuration and still be able to run a full Proline would be a 2 meg ram disk and an 800k floppy for the message base. Proline has alot of utilities and and it does take up some space for the root directory. I like Proline but each program has its good points and its bad points. The only way a person can decide is to call up several Prolines and several GBBS boards and decide for himself. Mike Proline: mikep@pro-berks Internet: mikep@pro-berks.cts.com UUCP: crash!pro-berks!mikep
greg@hoss.unl.edu (Lig Lury Jr.) (06/08/91)
mikep@pro-berks.cts.com (System Administrator) writes: >greg@hoss.unl.edu (Lig Lury, Jr.) writes: >>If ProLine had a way to tell it it was running off of multiple disks >>instead of one partiton then I wouldn't be having so many problems. >"Out of the box" Proline will use three partitions. 32 MB for the root >directory, 32 MB for the file section, and another 32 MB for the message >base. Ah. But I need to split up the root directory among two disks. I don't plan of having files for download, and a non-networked message system. (I have been looking closely at the root directory, since that is where I have my problems. Too close to the problem, one could say.) >The smallest configuration >and still be able to run a full Proline would be a 2 meg ram disk and an 800k >floppy for the message base. Proline has alot of utilities and and it does >take up some space for the root directory. I was able to squeeze it into a 1024K RAMdisk (my maximum configurable), save extra modem drivers and one rather large but unnecessary text file. That was without any file or message areas, running only what was given, plus my account, minus the significant-dates file. If I can split the root directory, I think I could run it on 2 800K disks. (One physical, one RAM. I need some space for scrollback in ProTERM.) I might be able to throw in some space on a 140K disk, but I currently keep system files I need there, like UTIL.SYSTEM. >Mike >Internet: mikep@pro-berks.cts.com -- /// ____ \\\ "The major problem--one of the major problems, for there are | |/ / \ \| | several--one of the many major problems with governing \\_|\____/|_// people is of whom you get to do it, or more to the greg \_\\\/ hoss.unl.edu point, who gets people to let them do it to them."
greg@hoss.unl.edu (Lig Lury Jr.) (06/08/91)
greg@hoss.unl.edu (Lig Lury Jr.) writes: >Ah. But I need to split up the root directory among two disks. I don't >plan of having files for download, and a non-networked message system. (I ~~~~~~~~~~ Replace with "nor a ", in order to agree with "don't plan". Silly blunder. :-) -- /// ____ \\\ "The major problem--one of the major problems, for there are | |/ / \ \| | several--one of the many major problems with governing \\_|\____/|_// people is of whom you get to do it, or more to the greg \_\\\/ hoss.unl.edu point, who gets people to let them do it to them."