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                      TriBBS Sysop Help File #1
                       by Patrick J. Driscoll
                      Sysop of Pat's Place BBS
                          (803) 821-8689
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    Hello to all new sysops,
    First, I want to thank you for downloading this file. I hope it
helps you setup and run your bbs. This is primarily for the TriBBS
bulletin board system, by Mark Goodwin, but may help with other bbs
systems too. This is the first in a continuing series of help files and
I hop to compile them into a large "electronic book" when I have covered
all the aspects of a TriBBS system.
    Second, this series of help files will NOT cover how to unzip and
install the TriBBS bbs program. Mark Goodwin has made the program simple
to setup and get running, with an install program that works very well.
I will cover how to use TriBBS with; Frontdoor, door games, callback
verifiers, master file list generators, between batch file programs,
upload & download batch file programs, Fossil Drivers, Modems, Fax
doors, message networks and anything else that could be of help to a new
sysop.
    No more B.S., on to the first help area....

TriBBS and Door Games.

    TriBBS has the ability to generate almost any kind of drop file. A
drop file is a short text file that gives name of user, comm port being
used, time left for this call, time left for this day, ANSI or
Monochrome display and other facts about the current user. TriBBS makes
this file automaticlly, and requires no help from the sysop. Door games
use these drop files to "collect" the information needed to run for a
particular user. TriBBS creates these files when a user logs on.
    Get the game you want to setup for your bbs. Make a directory for it
on your hard drive and unzip the file in that directory. Find the doc's
for the game and, if possible, print them off. If not, read them and
keep them handy for future reference. What you want to look for is what
type of drop file it needs, and how it needs to be called from the batch
file to run. I suggest that if the game can be run with a DOOR.SYS drop
file (or GAP), that you use this drop file. DOOR.SYS is one of the few
drop files that is standard, on whatever system you run.
    Ok, you have an idea how it works. Modify the Config. file if
needed, and most doors will need this step completed. Remember to refer
to the doc's often, as this is the only way you are going to set it up.
With over 7000 doors available, I can't list how all are setup on an
individual basis. After you have edited the .cfg file, move to you main
TriBBS directory. Here you will have to make a batch file to run the
door. This is the file TriBBS calls up to run the door, and return from
the door when the user is done.
    Here is an example of a door batch file;

      CD C:\TRIBBS\DOORS\HANG  (This changes the directory to where the
                                 door is located)
      NECKTIE NECKTIE.CFG       (This calls up the door as per the docs)
      CD\TRIBBS                 (This switches back to the main TriBBS
                                 directory)
      BOARD                     (This calls the board back up)

Line 3 & 4 will almost always be the same for all doors. Some doors
require a .cfg file to be called from the batch file, some don't and
some ask for other parimeters. Thats the reason for keeping the doc's
handy.
    Next, change to your NWORK directory. Go to the DOORS.MNU and add a
line for the new door. Heres an example;

     D,Hangman,HMAN,10

D-stands for DOOR.SYS, the drop file type.
Hangman-is the name of the game as will appear on the menu.
HMAN-is the name of the batch file to call.
10-is the minimum security level allowed to access the door.

Thats all there is to doors. A couple of things to remember. First, read
the doc's. Second, read the doc's again. Third, don't name the batch
file the same thing as the executable for the door, this causes
problems. Also, a quirk in MSDOS can cause problems if the batch file
name and the directory holding the game is named the same. Avoid doing
this. And last, have someone log on your bbs and try out the door to see
if it works from the remote side. A door game can work fine in local
mode, and not work at all or lock up your system, from the remote
side.


TriBBS and Front Door.

    First, setup FrontDoor. There are a bunch of "How to" files out
there on what you need to do to get it running. All I will cover is how
to interface TriBBS with FrontDoor. You will also need TriDog and a mail
tosser.
    Second, set up TriDog as per doc's. Follow the doc's and you will
have no problems. Then we get to the batch files needed. Here is an
example of your RUNFD.BAT. This is the batch file that FrontDoor is
called from, and that Frontdoor will access when it recieves an
errorlevel.

@Echo off

:loop                 ': denotes a label. Need to know how to write
D:                       batch files'
CD D:\FD
fd

    if errorlevel 200 goto CALLBBS     \
    if errorlevel 68 goto DOTRIDOG      \
    if errorlevel 41 goto dogwme         \    Errorlevels passed by Front
    if errorlevel 40 goto delall          \   door to the batch file.
    if errorlevel 39 goto MAIL_PACKUP      /
    if ERRORLEVEL 31 goto Mail_Received   /
    if errorlevel 10 goto USRBRK         /
    if errorlevel 1 goto FDERROR        /

:CALLBBS
    CALL DOBBS
    d:
    CD\FD
    GOTO LOOP

:dotridog
    cd d:\tridog
    tridog
    CD d:\FD
    goto loop

:dogwme
    cd d:\trid2
    tridog
    cd d:\fd
    goto loop

:delall
    CD D:\GECHO
    GECHO TOSS
    CD D:\TRIDOG
    TRIDOG
    CD D:\TRID2
    TRIDOG
    CD D:\GECHO
    GECHO SCAN	
    CD D:\FD\MSGBASE\1           'All this DEL *.MSG is used to delete the
    DEL *.MSG                     FrontDoor message base, which is not
    CD D:\FD\MSGBASE\2            needed after importing.'
    DEL *.MSG
    CD D:\FD\MSGBASE\3
    DEL *.MSG
    CD D:\FD\MSGBASE\4
    DEL *.MSG
    CD D:\FD\MSGBASE\5
    DEL *.MSG
    CD D:\FD\MSGBASE\6
    DEL *.MSG
    CD D:\FD
    GOTO LOOP

:Mail_Received
    CD d:\GECHO                   'Mail tosser. Again, read the doc's'
    GECHO TOSS
    CD d:\FD
    Goto Loop

:Mail_Packup
    CD d:\GECHO
    GECHO SCAN                    'More mail tosser stuff'
    CD D:\FD
    GOTO LOOP

:userbrk                          'What FD does when you hit ALT+Q'
    cls
    @User Break
    goto Loop

:fderror
    @echo Mailer Returned An Error (1 - 9)
    cd d:\fd
    goto loop

:done

:fatal
   cls
   @echo Front Door Down

:end
   @echo Bye Bye

Make sure this batch file is in your Front Door directory, and use it to
call up FD and run the whole show.


This next batch file is your EXEBBS.BAT file. This file is called by FD
using DOBBS.BAT, a file it creates. EXEBBS.BAT is fairly straight
forward.

c:                       {What drive is TriBBS on}
cd tribbs2\nwork         {Change to TriBBS's NWORK directory}
del doors.tmp            {delete the DOORS.TMP file, just incase someone
                          drops carrier on you, the next person will not
                          start up where the last person left off.}
cd\tribbs2               {Change to the main TriBBS directory}
call board2.bat /f%1%5 /C%2 /T%3 /h  {Call board.bat with the following
                                      parimeters from DOBBS.BAT. Use
                                      /f%1%5 for FD ver 2.11+ and /f%1%4
                                      for FD ver 2.02NC. /f is the baud
                                      rate, /C is the comm port, /T is
                                      the time til the next event and /h
                                      tells tribbs to hangup after
                                      caller logs off}

This is your DOBBS.BAT. Front door creates it when it recieves an
errorlevel 200 call. it contains the perimeters that are passed to the
EXEBBS.BAT file and ultimitly, Board.Bat and TriBBS.

EXEBBS 38400 2 412 0 /NONE N/A
        |    |  |  |   |    |
       %1   %2  %3 %4  %5   %6 (not used)

This is you board.bat file. You only have to modify the line that starts
BBS.EXE.

echo off
cd \tribbs
if exist door.bat del door.bat
if exist event.bat del event.bat
if exist endbbs del endbbs
bbs.exe %1 %2 %3 %4  --------------NEEDED!!!!!!!!!!
if exist door.bat door            
if exist event.bat event
if exist endbbs goto end
board
:end

That about covers it. Like I said, I expect you to have FD setup before
you start. A couple things to remember. 1) Make sure you use the
DOBBS.BAT and EXEBBS.BAT files. And that you have FD make batch file set
to YES. This will take care of all the problems that you may have with
doors dropping users back to the FD Waiting for caller screen. DO NOT
try to incorparate BOARD.BAT into RUNFD.BAT. Let the other batch files
call up the board. 2) Read the doc's that come with TriBBS. This will
help with most of the problems. 3) Ask questions of fellow sysops in how
to setup FD. That takes care of the FD problems.


TriBBS and FOSSIL's

   If you plan to run FrontDoor, or a door game that requires a fossil
Driver, I highly recommend BNU. It can be found on many local bbs
systems, and is highly configuable. Unzip the archive and put the
BNU.SYS file in your DOS directory. Add the following line to you
CONFIG.SYS:
           DEVICE=C:\DOS\BNU.SYS /P1 /L0:38000 /F
This loads bnu for 1 port (/P1), locks the port at 38000 (L0:38000) and
forces the port (/F).  If you have 2 ports that need the fossil driver
try /P2. The first port is L0 and the second port is L1 and than L2 for
port 3 and so on.
    Why load it in your CONFIG.SYS? Because if you are short on memory,
it would still be a problem if you loaded and unloaded it after use. And
if it is loaded via the CONFIG.SYS, you can use MEMMAKER or QEMM to load
it into high memory, and it would be out of the way. If you are running
FrontDoor, you need it on all the time anyhow, so why not? With more and
more systems having at least 1 meg of RAM, the memory usage is minimal
(Less than 16k under QEMM 7.02) and the benefits are well worth it.

