                Installing FIDO-Net on your PCBoard (revision 2)
                                By Tom Carroll
                              January 7th, 1993

Why am I doing this?

I began searching for a suitable information packet that would assist me in
the installation of FIDO on my PCBoard system.  I never found one.

What did I do?

I decided to drudge my way through the 148 page FrontDoor manual and see if I
could install this monster on my own.  Well, I did it with the help of some
great friends who didn't believe I had to do this on my own and earn a "right
of passage".

This document is being released because of all the troubles I had getting my
system to run somewhat smoothly.  I had a lot of unanswered questions, and I
still do, but the majority of them have been answered by other Sysops.

Just a light foreword for the weary:  You can do this!  However, the key to
success is an extensive RUN.BAT file.  This is the key to your world now.  The
BOARD.BAT is only a passing thought on my system anymore.  My actual RUN.BAT
is nearly 8k!  I know, you're probably saying "This is too crazy for me!", but
you can do it.  Don't try to become FIDO's "number one best node around" over
night.  Take your time, get the mailer up and running to where it will
transfer netmail, and pass your callers to the BBS.  That's the most important
part.  Next you can work on the mail part and creating conferences.  While all
this is going on, you can run your events manually, or jump into the events
part right away, but be sure to remember that everything is based on
errorlevels and batch files.  After everything is basically working and
singing along you  can then make your improvements, FREQing, FILE routing,
secure sessions, etc...  I have only been in FIDO for less than 9 months, and
I can say there's not a whole lot I don't know about it now, but then again
I'm a programmer! <grin>

Here is a step by step guide for you to follow:

1.  The first thing you will need to do, is set aside about a weeks worth of
time, because this is no small task to set up, but then again, maybe with
this it will be. <grin>

  I read all my documentation for about two weeks before I decided to jump
  into this and I still feel I wasn't well prepared.  Do you remember your
  first door that you installed?  I do, and I would say this was 1000 times
  harder, and I lost a lot of hair over this.  But now that it's up and
  running, I feel great and my hair is returning to normal! <grin>

2.  Download some files or get these from some local boards.
    (I will make sure all these files are available on SALTAIR when I upload
     this help file)
    REQUIRED FILES

    FD202.ARJ ----- FrontDoor v2.02 (Front end mailer)
    BNU170.ARJ ---- BNU v1.7 (Fossil driver)
    FP13S.ZIP ----- FIDOPCB v1.3 (Mail tosser/scanner)
    NODELIST.XXX -- A FIDO Node list (current preferably)
    XLAX_256.ZIP -- XLAXDIFF v2.56 (Used to apply nodediffs)
    PKX35A35.EXE -- PKXARC PKARC v3.5 (Used to uncompress ARC'ed mail)
    TTP22.ARJ ----- Tic-2-PCB v2.2 (Used to import files)
    P2FDC10.ARJ --- PCBoard 2 FrontDoor Console v1.0 (Used to display the
                    last human caller to your BBS)
    NN12.ARJ ------ A small batch utility to detect new NODELIST's,
                    NODEDIFF's and FIDONEWS files.

    Recommended files:

    PKZ110.EXE ---- PKZIP & PKUNZIP v1.10
    ARJ230.EXE ---- ARJ v2.30
    PK361.EXE ----- PKPAK & PKUNPAK v3.61
    LHA213.EXE ---- LHA v2.13

3.  Now create some directories to hold your Frontend mailer and associated
files.  I set my system up like this: (next page)
    C:\Ŀ Ŀ
          Ĵ  PCB\   
           
          
           Ŀ
          Ĵ  FD\    Ŀ Ŀ
                                                 
                                                 Ŀ
                        Ŀ               All your Frontdoor  
                       Ĵ  NODE\  Ŀ             files go into this  
                                      directory.  I would 
                                                 place this dir. in  
                         Ŀ  your path.           
                          This is the dir. I                        
                          keep my NODELIST in   You will also keep  
                          which you may put     your RUN.BAT file   
                          as a sub-dir. of FD   in this directory.  
                          
                                                   
                        Ŀ
                       Ĵ  MAIL\  Ŀ
                         
                         Ŀ
                          This is where my    
                          incoming netmail    
                          waits to be read.   
                         
                        Ŀ
                       Ĵ FILES\  Ŀ
                         
                         Ŀ
                          All incoming files  
                          and mail bundles    
                          are stored in this  
                          directory.          
                         
                        Ŀ
                       Ĵ PACKET\ Ŀ
                          
                          Ŀ
                           Location of all out 
                           -bound mail packets 
                          
           Ŀ
          Ĵ F_ECHO\ Ŀ
             
             Ŀ
              This is where all   
              my FIDO conference  
              message bases are.  
             

4.  Next, unarj the FD202 file into your C:\FD directory.  You will have
quite a few files in this directory.  One thing that I recommend is printing
the manual, there's a lot of helpful information that you'll need, but some
that you won't.  It's 148 pages long, plus whatever the updates are.

    This manual is not written by people that know how to explain things very
easily.  There's a lot of technical jargon that I considered needless for my
information at this point.  After unarjing the files, run the program called
FDSETUP.EXE.  Go through your menus and put in your info.  Before you're
issued a node number, you'll need to enter a fake address until you receive
a number from your NET COORDINATOR (NC).  He will issue you a node number and
then you will be added to the nodelist on the following Saturday.  For now
enter 1:NET/9999 (you will have to find out what net you're located within
and enter that number after the colon ":" and before the "/") if you're in
North America.  Be sure to enter the following error levels in your modem
configuration screen:

          300 - 120
         1200 - 120
         2400 - 120
         4800 - 120
         9600 - 120
        12000 - 120
        14000 - 120
        19200 - 120
        38400 - 120

    I wouldn't worry too much about the events scheduler right now.  Lets just
get you up and running so it'll answer the phone and let your callers on the
BBS.

5.  After setting up your config in FDSETUP, you will need to unarchive your
nodelist into your FD\NODE directory.  Once you have done that, you'll need
to edit your FDNODE.CTL file, which is also located in the FD\NODE directory,
to account for all of the local exchanges, in-state long distant numbers and
so on.  Here is an example of my FDNODE.CTL file:
    ZONE 1 <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< This is what zone to compile with FDNC (1-6)
    PHONE 1:347/9 375-0507   <<< Number to my hub.  This number was wrong in my
    DIAL  <<<<<<<<<<Ŀ          last nodelist.
    1-509-222 222     
    1-509-372 372     
    1-509-373 373     -<<< This begins my dial translation table which
    1-509-375 375                tells Frontdoor's Node compiler to strip all
    1-509-376 376                the 1-509-XXX from the numbers that match XXX.
    1-509-377 377
    1-509-545 545                The node compiler will look for each occurrence
    1-509-546 546                of 1-509-XXX and replace it with XXX.  All of
    1-509-547 547                these number are considered a local call from
    1-509-582 582                my dialing prefix.
    1-509-586 586                    
    1-509-588 588                    (i.e.  1-509-582-9493 will be 582-9493)
    1-509-735 735                
    1-509-736 736                You will also need to change any numbers that
    1-509-783 783                are located in your area code, but are not a
    1-509-943 943                local call from your prefix.  I have this set
    1-509-946 946                as my last line in the dial translation.
    1-509-967 967
    1-509 1 <<<<<<<<<<< Then after it's done with all the local numbers,
    END                          it removes the -509 from the rest of them.

6.  Now change back to the C:\FD directory and type FDNC.  This should
compile your nodelist.  After this is done, you only need to do one more
thing before you're able to run the mailer.  (The hard part is over, I THINK!)

7.  Unarj the BNU170 file into your UTILS directory.  The only file I kept
was the BNU.COM file.  If you want the BNU.SYS file, then delete the BNU.COM
file.  I run the .COM file, so I can disable the interrupt trap when I chain
to my BBS.  I've heard of people having problems with a Fossil driver, and
others say they don't effect anything.  It's your call.  One other thing I
would like to mention here is there's an option to unload and reload the
fossil driver (should you choose to use this method), this may cause problems
and this is why: "Never completely unload the driver and then reload it.  This
may cause problems by leaving holes in memory".  I use the /Q option which
disables the interrupt handler.  This is the safest way and it ensures your
system won't be hanging up due to corrupt memory.

    If you use the .COM file, just type BNU /Pa /Lb:ccccc,8n1 /F

    /Pa = Number of ports active
    /Lb = Comm port number (L0=COM1, L1=COM2 etc.)
  ccccc = Comm port baud rate (i.e. 38400)
    8n1 = Data bits-Parity-Stop bits
     /F = Fast ANSI screen writes

    My AUTOEXEC.BAT entry looks like this:

    BNU /P1 /L1:38400,8n1 /F

8.  Guess what?  You're now ready to fire off the FrontDoor mailer.  Path to
your C:\FD directory and type FD <enter>.  You should see the mailer come up
and try to initialize the modem.  If it's successful, it'll say "Waiting for
call or event"  If it doesn't, then something must be wrong.  By now, you
should've gotten your NC's FIDO address.  If not, call a local FIDO BBS and
ask that Sysop what the NC's FIDO address is.
9.  Press ALT-E (wait for the editor to come up) and enter the NC's address,
then press enter.  Next enter a subject, such as NEW NODE and press enter.
You may now enter your information, most NC's like the following info:

     Request to have a node number assigned to my system:

     NAME----------:
     Address-------:
     Voice Phone---:
     Data Phone----:
     Machine Make--:
     Model - CPU---:
     Speed---------:
     MultiTasker---:
     Lan Software--:
     Operating Sys-:
     Disk Storage--:
     Mailer Softw--:
     Fossil Driver-:
     Mail Tosser---:
     Modem Speed---:
     Modem Mfr.----:
     Modem Supports:
     Modem Model---:
     Mfr. Date-----:
     Bios Ver.-----:
     Online--------:
     BBS Name------:
     BBS Software--:
     AreaFix Passwd:
     Raid Password-:
     Compression---:(ZIP, LZH, ARJ, ARC, PAK)

    Press ALT-S and a menu should come up and from there you can press
CTRL-I (for Immediate), CTRL-C (for Crash), CTRL-D (for Direct delivery) and
then enter.  To save the message press CTRL-Z.  Once you're finished in the
editor, press ALT-Q to return to the mailer.  Your mail should go out to your
NC within 5 minutes.
10.  If you want to run events on your system, which almost every Sysop does,
you'll need to forget about PCBoard's internal event system for now...

     FrontDoor has a very extensive events manager.  You can have as many
events a day that you wish (up to 30).  I didn't like this at first because
it was separate from PCBoard, but now I don't see how I was doing everything
in one event.  You will have one event as a minimum.  The Zone Mail Hour (ZMH),
which is at 0900 Greenwich mean time (GMT) for Zone 1 (North America).  You
can then schedule other events to do your BBS maintenance, or you can just set
everything up to run consecutively.  This is a very powerful tool!

11.  Now that your mailer is up and running, you need to know how to get your
callers to your BBS from the "Press Escape twice to enter PCBoard" prompt
when the mailer answers the phone.  There are four batch files I use, plus
several environment variables.  I will start with the RUN.BAT file.
    @ECHO OFF
    BNU /C /M- <<<<<< This recaptures the interrupt for the fossil driver.
    
    REM       ---------        DELETE THE BBS CHAIN FILE         ---------
    IF EXIST C:\FD\DOBBS.BAT DEL C:\FD\DOBBS.BAT

    IF %LASTON%==LOCAL GOTO SWAPFILE <<< I use this to control the local mode
    GOTO CONTINUE                        in my BOARD.BAT file which ensures
    :SWAPFILE                            that any callers don't get messed up
    CD \PCB                              from when I use the BBS in local mode.
    COPY BOARDC.BAT BOARD.BAT /V         
    SET LASTON=CALLER                    I do this so I can use my doors in
    :CONTINUE                            local mode without causing conflicts
    CD \FD                               with my mailer.
    FD
    REM       ---------  CHECK ERROR LEVELS RETURNED BY MAILER   ---------
    IF ERRORLEVEL 125 GOTO LOCAL <<<< These error levels are setup in the
    IF ERRORLEVEL 120 GOTO BOARD      FDSETUP program.  Use the Modem error
    IF ERRORLEVEL  75 GOTO WAKEUP     levels menu to setup your connection
    IF ERRORLEVEL  65 GOTO EVENT      speeds, and what error levels FD will
    IF ERRORLEVEL  10 GOTO QUIT       exit with when it receives a human
    IF ERRORLEVEL  32 GOTO MAILOUT    caller.
    IF ERRORLEVEL  31 GOTO MAILIN
    IF ERRORLEVEL   8 GOTO ERROR
    IF ERRORLEVEL   7 GOTO ERROR
    IF ERRORLEVEL   6 GOTO ERROR      This will also test for exit errors by
    IF ERRORLEVEL   5 GOTO ERROR      FD and echo them to the screen.
    IF ERRORLEVEL   3 GOTO ERROR
    IF ERRORLEVEL   2 GOTO ERROR
    IF ERRORLEVEL   1 GOTO ERROR
    REM           ---------         SEND CALLER TO THE BBS          ---------
    :BOARD
    BNU /Q /M- <<<<<<<<<<< - I disable my fossil driver
    DOBBS <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< - Call the batch file FD creates which calls EXEBBS
    REM           ---------     LOG ON TO THE BBS IN LOCAL MODE     ---------
    :LOCAL
    BNU /Q /M- <<<<<<<<<<< - I disable my fossil driver
    SET LASTON=LOCAL <<<< - SET the LASTON environment variable
    CD \PCB
    COPY BOARDL.BAT BOARD.BAT /V << - COPY my local board.bat file
    BOARD <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< - CALL my BOARD.BAT
    REM           ---------        PROCESS FRONT DOOR ERROR         ---------
    :ERROR
    CLS
    IF ERRORLEVEL==8 ECHO ERROR: FRONT DOOR ALREADY LOADED!  USE EXIT TO RETURN
    IF ERRORLEVEL==7 ECHO ERROR: FOSSIL DRIVER NOT LOADED OR DETECTED!
    IF ERRORLEVEL==6 ECHO ERROR: INCORRECT FOSSIL VERSION FOR FRONT DOOR!
    IF ERRORLEVEL==5 ECHO ERROR: CANNOT INITIALIZE THE MODEM!
    IF ERRORLEVEL==3 ECHO ERROR: LESS THAN 32KB OF DISK SPACE AVAILABLE!
    IF ERRORLEVEL==2 ECHO ERROR: EXTERNAL ERROR - MISSING PATH, FILES, ETC.
    IF ERRORLEVEL==1 ECHO ERROR: INTERNAL ERROR
    BNU /C <<<<<< - This recaptures int 14 so you don't get any fossil errors
    GOTO DONE
    REM           ---------        EXIT FRONT DOOR NORMALLY         ---------
    :QUIT
    ECHO Normal Exit!
    :DONE
    BNU /Q /M- <<<<<<<<<<< - I disable my fossil driver
 
Whew!  That's a bare bones batch file for the mailer.  This should at least
get you from the mailer halfway to your BBS.
     The next file is called EXEBBS.BAT which looks like this:

      @ECHO OFF
      SET CONTYPE=/ERR
      IF "%1"=="16800" SET SPEED=7     I'm using an HST/DS 16.8k modem, so I
      IF "%1"=="14400" SET SPEED=6     have modified my connect strings to
      IF "%1"=="9600" SET SPEED=5      the HST's 16800 connect speed and then 
      IF "%1"=="2400" SET SPEED=3      pass that to PCBoard as 38400.  I pass
      IF "%1"=="1200" SET SPEED=2      19200 if the connection is 14400, and
      IF "%4"=="/NONE" SET CONTYPE=    9600 should it be 9600.  This will give
      IF "%4"=="" SET CONTYPE=         PCBoard a closer calculation time when
      SET EVENT=%3                     a download is requested.
      BOARD %1

     Your EXEBBS.BAT file is called by a batch file that you must tell
FrontDoor to create when it exits after a modem connect.  This file is called
DOBBS.BAT and it will contain the connect speed (passed as %1), the comm port
(as %2), minutes until the next event (as %3), and the connection type
(as %4).

      i.e.    EXEBBS 9600 2 159 /ARQ/HST/HST

Now for the final batch file.  Your BOARD.BAT.

      @ECHO OFF
      C:
      CD \PCB
      SET PCB=/BYTECRED:2 /CONNECT:%1 /MAIN /NOPROMOTE /SWAP /UPCRED:2
      IF EXIST REMOTE.BAT RENAME REMOTE.BAT REMOTE.SYS
      IF EXIST EVENT.BAT RENAME EVENT.BAT EVENT.SYS
      IF EXIST DOOR.BAT DEL DOOR.BAT
      IF EXIST ENDPCB DEL ENDPCB
      PCB145 /C:%SPEED% %CONTYPE% /EVENT:%EVENT%
      IF EXIST REMOTE.BAT REMOTE
      IF EXIST DOOR.BAT DOOR
      IF EXIST EVENT.BAT EVENT
      IF EXIST ENDPCB GOTO END
      BOARD
      :END
      RUN

     NOTE: I have my C:\PCB directory in my path

     Your callers should be able to connect to your BBS now.  In order for
your system to drop out of PCBoard and reload FrontDoor upon a caller hanging
up you need to set the option for PCBoard to drop to DOS after each call.
You do this by loading PCBSetup and going to Options screen #1.  The question
is the 11th question on the left side of the screen.

12.  This has pretty much gotten the FrontDoor mailer up and working.  I'm
sure you're probably getting tired, but if you're like me, you just want to
keep going.  Now we need to get you setup with a mail tosser scanner.  But
before we do this, we need to determine how and what messages we will be
getting from the NC.

     The reason for the password that you sent for AreaFix, and Raid, is
because you can automatically add and drop conferences, and file distribution
networks.  All you need to do is get the USEFIX.ZIP file that I uploaded to
SALTAIR.  It will explain how to use the AreaFix features on the NC's server.
     Once you have your message areas picked out, and you know the EXACT
conference names, you can then setup your echo conferences, and your FIDOPCB
to import/export your FIDO messages.

13.  You will first need to setup your echo areas in PCBoard, just like any
other network, or local conferences.  If you've never setup an echo
conference, be sure to set the echo flags to yes.  As an example, I set all
my conference names with a network identifier, such as F_PCBNet for the FIDO
conference PCBNet.  I also set my message base names to the same names as the
conference or as close as possible and then make a sub-directory for all the
message base files instead of placing them all into their own directories.
Such as MSGS: C:\F_ECHO\PCBNet, which makes for much easier backups when you
just want to do a backup of the entire FIDO message base.  Some like this,
some don't, it's up to you.

14.  Now, you should have time to go grab a beer, pop, or whatever you fancy,
because you're going to have to print (yes PRINT) the FIDOPCB manual.  The
FIDOPCB.CFG file is pretty straight forward until you get down to the bottom
area where you set up your conference areas.  I have included my config file
for your convenience to assist you in completing this last step.  This is only
if you plan to manually enter the configuration info.  Otherwise you can use
the FPCONFIG program that was included in version 1.3

      INTERFACE   frontdoor
      NET_TOSS    pcboard
      NETWORK     off
      NO_BELL     off
      IGNORE_ECHO on
      MAX_MSGS    9999
      DUPE_CHECK  200
      MAIL        c:\fd\mail
      PACKET      c:\fd\packet
      FILE        c:\fd\files
      BAD         c:\fd\bad
      WORK        c:\fd\work
      LOST_MAIL   c:\f_echo
      NET_MAIL    c:\f_echo
      PCBOARD     c:\pcb
      FRONTDOOR   c:\fd
      ZIP
      UNZIP
      ARC
      UNARC
      ARJ
      UNARJ
      LZH
      UNLZH
      ORIGIN      1:347/10
      DOMAIN      fidonet.org
      SYSOP       Tom Carroll
      TAG         The Data Shop, Kennewick WA (509)582-9493 (HST)
      AREA     1           Apple                 C:\F_ECHO        DUPE
      AREA_MSGS Apple
      AREA     2           Pascal                C:\F_ECHO        DUPE
      AREA_MSGS Pascal
      AREA     3           Trek                  C:\F_ECHO        DUPE
      AREA_MSGS Trek
      AREA     4           Windows.Prog          C:\F_ECHO        DUPE
      AREA_MSGS Win-Pgm
      AREA     5           Humor                 C:\F_ECHO        DUPE
      AREA_MSGS Humor
      AREA     6           Quik_Bas              C:\F_ECHO        DUPE
      AREA_MSGS QuickBas
      AREA     7           Ham_Tech              C:\F_ECHO        DUPE
      AREA_MSGS Ham_Tech
      AREA     8           Windows               C:\F_ECHO        DUPE
      AREA_MSGS Windows
      AREA     9           CNW_Net               C:\F_ECHO        DUPE
      AREA_MSGS CNW_Net
      AREA    10           For-Sale              C:\F_ECHO        DUPE
      AREA_MSGS ForSale
      AREA    11           TC_Net                C:\F_ECHO        DUPE
      AREA_MSGS TC_Net
      AREA    12           ASP                   C:\F_ECHO        DUPE
      AREA_MSGS ASP
      AREA    13           Military_People       C:\F_ECHO        DUPE
      AREA_MSGS Military
      AREA    14           PCBNet                C:\F_ECHO        DUPE
      AREA_MSGS PCBNet
      AREA    15           Teen                  C:\F_ECHO        DUPE
      AREA_MSGS Teen
      AREA    16           OS2                   C:\F_ECHO        DUPE
      AREA_MSGS OS2
      NODE       1:347/9          1-16
      SYSOP      Vic Parrish      ^^^^ <<< Make sure you tell FIDOPCB what
      COMPRESS   ARC                       echo's go where.  This is not done
      FLOW_TYPE  NORMAL                   in the config program!

     Once you have your config file completed, and a packet in your FD\FILES
directory, FIDOPCB will import that packet into your PCBoard message bases.
One problem that I ran into, was that I didn't do a pack on the message bases
after creating them.  You MUST do this so FIDOPCB will see both the XXXXX and
XXXXX.NDX message files.  Also, as the FIDOPCB docs state, you must create two
other echo areas, one is called MATRIX (message base file name.  I Called that
conference F_NetMail) and LOST (which no one but myself has access to).
These files must exist also, or FIDOPCB will not work.

15.  Polling and sending mail.  To poll or send mail to other nodes
automatically, you have to edit a file called ROUTE.FD in your \FD directory.
This file has a basic KEYWORD {option} format.  To get more information than
what is discussed here, please consult the FrontDoor manual.  This is what
my ROUTE.FD file looks like:

No-Route   MYNET  <<<<<<<<<---- This tells FrontDoor to send all mail that
Hold       !CM                  is addressed to systems in my net is to sent
Route-To 1:347/17 1:* 2:*       directly, and others are routed through
;                               1:347/17.  !CM says to hold mail for systems
; 00:00 - 00:01 (Daily)         that don't have net-mail capability.
Schedule @ *

; 00:00 - 23:59 (Daily)
Schedule A *  <<<<<<<<<<<<<---- The '*' means this event applies to ALL

; 01:00 - 02:00 (Daily) (Zone Mail Hour)
Schedule B *
  UnHold    !CM <<<<<<<<<<<---- All FIDO nodes are supposed to be available
                                for Zone Mail Hour.
; 03:00 - 03:30 (Wednesdays & Sundays)
Schedule D *
  POLL      1:347/17 <<<<<<---- I poll my NC twice a week.

; 23:00 - 23:30  (Daily)
Schedule E * <<<<<<<<<<<<<<---- This is where I get my nightly mail runs.
  POLL      1:103/132           I will connect and transfer any mail that
  POLL      1:347/9             hasn't been delivered to me for the day.
  POLL      1:203/540

The Schedule "Tag" is the Tag letter you use in the events manager to run
a FIDO event.  To execute an external event, you use the "Tag" 'X' to tell
FrontDoor that it is to drop out with a specified errorlevel.  The way I send
my mail out is by creating an external event that executes 3 minutes before
the "E" event (23:27) which exits with an errorlevel of 65.  If you look at
my batch file RUN.BAT, errorlevel 65 is used to extract out going mail from
the BBS and then reload FrontDoor.  Upon connection to my hub's, all mail is
then successfully transferred.

In the behavior section of the event declaration, I force these events to run
and not to allow any callers.  However, I do select "End event when no more
to send" option.  This way when all my hub's have been polled, the event ends.
I have the "E" event scheduled for a duration of 30 minutes.  I strongly
recommending you ask your hub what the best time would be for you to poll
their system.  If you want to manually POLL a node anytime from the mailer,
you can type <ALT-F> and the nodes address or sysops name and it will POLL
them for any waiting mail, but it will not export or send any mail.  If you
do a manual export of mail, you can then use the <ALT-S> key to send mail to
a node.  Specify whether you want it to send All messages, or Crash mail only.

16.  File areas and distribution files.  You will be receiving, as a minimum,
two files per week.  They are NODEDIFF.Ann and FNEWSnnn.xxx.  NODEDIFF.Ann is
the weekly node difference update file.  This file is used to update your
nodelist and it is typically less than 100k which makes for downloading a lot
simpler & faster than the 500 - 600k (compressed) NODELIST.  FNEWSnnn.xxx is
the weekly edition of the FidoNews.  These two files are required by all FIDO
systems, so there's no getting out of it...

     The reason I'm bringing this up is because these files may seem
mysterious, and they have a counter part.  It's a file who's name will be
TKnnnnnn.TIC, which is a description file of the actual archive.  It contains
basic information on the archive such as the date it was made, who made it,
the CRC-32 checksum, a short description, who's seen it.  A lot of new FIDO
nodes are not warned of these little buggers which are sent to you
automatically, and they begin to pile up without any notice.  These will be
located in the FD\FILES directory.

     You can use the program called Tic-2-PCB (TTP22.ZIP or later) to process
these files into your PCBoard directories.  This utility is free, and
authored by me.

     Two other utilities might be useful to you, and they are Node/News
(NN12.ZIP) and PCBoard 2 FrontDoor Console (P2FDC10.ARJ).  These to are free
and written by me.  Node/News keeps track of your latest NODEDIFF, NODELIST,
and FIDONEWS files and returns an errorlevel if they are new, and it is for
use in batch files.  PCBoard 2 FrontDoor Console is a program that will place
the last caller info the To: record in the FrontDoor console so you can see
who the last caller to your BBS was.
17.  File requests is the last section you should be familiar with.  File
requests are exactly as they sound.  If you allow them, then that means some-
one may download any files you list for free without logging into the BBS.
This is one of the bigger privileges a sysop gets when they become a FIDO node
since they can do quick and dirty downloads without spending a lot of time
online and wasting precious dollars.  To make a FILE Request, just enter the
Editor <ALT-E>, and type the file name for the subject (or magic name, which is
an alias for the actual file) and then press <CTL-R> to make it a request.  If
you want to send a file, just do the same, but press <CTL-F> instead.  Most
systems will not (and should not) allow requests during Zone Mail Hour.

18.  Well, that pretty much wraps it up for a bare bones, basic installation.
I have included my batch files at the end of this document for you to use, or
review to get your own ideas.  If you have any problems, once you get your
mailer up and running, you can net-mail me at 1:347/10, or call my BBS at
(509)582-9493 (HST/DS 16.8k).  I will do whatever I can to help you along.
Please remember that I have a different system than you do, so some of this
may not work for you.

DEFINITIONS:
(file sizes are for uncompressed files)

NODELIST - This is a list of all FIDO mail systems for the world.  This list
has phone numbers, system names, sysop names, and system FLAGS for all nodes
listed.  This file is very large.  Mine is over 1.5 megs in size uncompressed,
and 550-600k (ARJ'ed).

NODEDIFF - This is a file that is distributed every week (I get mine Saturday)
and it is used with the XLAXDIFF program to update your NODELIST file to
either add, remove, or some other changes for any system.  This ensures you
have current info on any system that you may want to call.  This file is
usually under 100k compressed.

FNEWSnnn - FIDONEWS is distributed every week in compressed format.  You can
place it in a directory for your callers to download, or you my place it in
an on-line bulletin for reading.  Normally around 15k compressed.

TKxxxxxx.TIC - These are file area descriptions that are distributed once a
week for each file area that you're connected with.  There is a program made
specifically for PCBoard which I wrote, and it will import these file
descriptions directly into PCBoard file directories.  It's called Tic-2-PCB.
These description files are normally 1000 - 2000 bytes uncompressed.

xxxxxxxx.MO0 - These files will be named using a checksum of your address and
your NC's address.  The suffix will be the fist 2 letters of the day and the
Nth number of the mail bundle.

xxxxxxxx.PKT - These are conference packets that are either being sent, or
received.  This is also called ARCMail.

nnnnnnnn.MSG - Individual messages created by FrontDoor.

ROUTE.FD - This file determines how all mail from your system is routed.  I
have mine set up to route all non-local system mail through my NC.  It is
probably best to read the FrontDoor manual to get a better understanding.

NAMES.FD - This is another config file for FD.  It supposedly acts as a name
directory for any systems that you call frequently.  You can enter the Name
and Node number of a system, and then have a single letter or key sequence to
call it up like a macro within the FrontDoor Message editor.
FDNODE.CTL - This is the control file that tells FrontDoors Node Compiler how
to compile the node list.  There are a number of different items that you can
place in this file. (It must end with an END statement)

ALIAS.FD - This file acts as an ALIAS file for your file names.  As you will
see there will be messages that say something like FREQ TIC2PCB (or similar)
and what this is saying is that I have an alias setup for my program.  If you
file request TIC2PCB from me, I have an entry in my ALIAS.FD that looks like
this:   TIC2PCB     D:\DWS2\TTP*.ARJ     This tells frontdoor when it receives
the file request for this alias, it's supposed to send this file.  Most common
"MAGIC" file names are NODELIST, NODEDIFF, FNEWS, and FILES

RUN.BAT

@ECHO OFF
REM           ---------     RETURNED TO HERE AFTER EACH EXIT     ---------
:START
BNU /C
:RESUME
REM           ---------        DELETE THE BBS CHAIN FILE         ---------
IF EXIST C:\PCB\FD\DOBBS.BAT DEL C:\PCB\FD\DOBBS.BAT
IF %LASTON%==LOCAL GOTO SWAPFILE
GOTO CONTINUE
:SWAPFILE
CD \PCB
COPY BOARDC.BAT BOARD.BAT /V
SET LASTON=CALLER
:CONTINUE
CD \FD
REM           ---------  CHECK FOR NEW NODE & FIDO NEWS FILES    ---------
NN LIST C:\FD\FILES\ N
IF ERRORLEVEL 2 GOTO NODELIST
NN DIFF C:\FD\FILES\ N
IF ERRORLEVEL 2 GOTO NODEDIFF
NN NEWS C:\FD\FILES\ N
IF ERRORLEVEL 2 GOTO FIDONEWS
TIC2PCB TIC2PCB.CFG
FD
REM           ---------  CHECK ERROR LEVELS RETURNED BY MAILER   ---------
IF ERRORLEVEL 240 GOTO BOARD
IF ERRORLEVEL 125 GOTO LOCAL
IF ERRORLEVEL 120 GOTO BOARD
IF ERRORLEVEL  96 GOTO BOARD
IF ERRORLEVEL  76 GOTO EVENT2
IF ERRORLEVEL  75 GOTO EVENT1
IF ERRORLEVEL  65 GOTO EXPORT
IF ERRORLEVEL  55 GOTO GETMAIL
IF ERRORLEVEL  45 GOTO NETMAIL
IF ERRORLEVEL  35 GOTO HOME
IF ERRORLEVEL  31 GOTO IMPORT
IF ERRORLEVEL  10 GOTO QUIT
IF ERRORLEVEL   8 GOTO ERROR
IF ERRORLEVEL   7 GOTO ERROR
IF ERRORLEVEL   6 GOTO ERROR
IF ERRORLEVEL   5 GOTO ERROR
IF ERRORLEVEL   3 GOTO ERROR
IF ERRORLEVEL   2 GOTO ERROR
IF ERRORLEVEL   1 GOTO ERROR
REM           ---------   CALL THE HOME NUMBER AND WAKE ME UP   ---------
:HOME
BNU /Q /M
CD \ROBO
ROBOCOMM /AHOME /R
GOTO START
REM           ---------  IMPORT ANY NEW FIDO MAIL FOR READING   ---------
:IMPORT
CD \PCB\FP
FIDOPCB IMPORT
FIDOPCB Stat > ..\GEN\BLT16
GOTO RESUME
REM           ---------  EXPORT ANY NEW FIDO MAIL FOR DELIVERY  ---------
:EXPORT
CD \PCB\FP
FIDOPCB EXPORT /Strip
FIDOPCB Stat > ..\GEN\BLT16
GOTO RESUME
REM           ---------         SEND CALLER TO THE BBS          ---------
:BOARD
BNU /Q /M
SET LASTON=CALLER
DOBBS
REM           ---------     LOG ON TO THE BBS IN LOCAL MODE     ---------
:LOCAL
BNU /Q /M
SET LASTON=LOCAL
CD \PCB
COPY BOARDL.BAT BOARD.BAT /V
BOARD
REM           ---------      BEGIN THE FIRST NIGHTLY EVENT      ---------
:EVENT1
BNU /Q /M
CD \PCB\FP
REM           ---------  EXPORT ANY NEW FIDO MAIL FOR DELIVERY  ---------
FIDOPCB Export /Strip
FIDOPCB Stat > ..\GEN\BLT16
CD \PCB
REM           ---------           RUN PCBOARD'S EVENT            ---------
REN EVENT.SYS EVENT.BAT
EVENT
REM           ---------     BEGIN THE SECOND NIGHTLY EVENT      ---------
:EVENT2
BNU /Q /M
CD\ROBO
REM           ---------   CALL LOCAL BBS AND TRADE FILES/MAIL   ---------
ROBOCOMM /ASECOND /R
CD \PCB\FP
REM           ---------    IMPORT ANY FIDO MAIL NOT IMPORTED    ---------
FIDOPCB IMPORT
FIDOPCB Stat > ..\GEN\BLT16
CD \PCB
REM           ---------    PACK THE FIDO MAIL MESSAGE BASES     ---------
PCBPACK /Area:16-40 /Fast /KillBak /KillDups /MaxMsgs:500 /NoCaller /UpCase
REM           ---------     CREATE THE BBS CATALOG OF FILES     ---------
PCBFILER /SORT
PCBLOF 0 15
REN PCBLOF.LST DATASHOP.CAT
ARJ A -m1 !CATALOG DATASHOP.CAT
COPY !CATALOG.ARJ \FREE /V
DEL !CATALOG.ARJ
DEL DATASHOP.CAT
GOTO START
REM           --------- APPLY THE NEW NODEDIFF TO THE NODELIST  ---------
:NODEDIFF
CLS
ECHO          *********        PROCESSING NODELIST FILE         *********
CD \FD\NODE
PKUNPAK -E \FD\FILES\NODEDIFF.*
XLAXDIFF /C
CD \FD
FDNC /F
GOTO RESUME
REM           ---------        COMPILE THE NEW NODELIST         ---------
:NODELIST
CLS
ECHO          *********        PROCESSING NODELIST FILE         *********
CD \FD\NODE
PKUNZIP -E \FD\FILES\NODELIST.*
CD \FD
FDNC /F
GOTO RESUME
:FIDONEWS
REM           ---------  PROCESS THE LATEST FIDO NEWS INTO BLT  ---------
CLS
ECHO          *********       PROCESSING FIDO NEWS FILE         *********
D:
CD \F_ECHO
LHA E C:\FD\FILES\FNEWS*
COPY *.NWS NEWS
DEL *.NWS
PAGEKILL NEWS
C:
CD \FD
GOTO RESUME
:TICK
REM           ---------   APPLY THE LATEST TIC FILE AND FILES   ---------
CLS
ECHO          *********          PROCESSING .TIC FILE           *********
TIC2PCB TIC2PCB.CFG
GOTO RESUME
:GETMAIL
REM           ---------  GET LOCAL BBS MAIL & DL'ED MAIL PKTS   ---------
CD \CAM-MAIL
IF EXIST A:\DATASHOP.REP GOTO REP
LOCALCAM PCB:C:\PCB FName:Tom LName:Carroll Pwrd: QWK
GOTO END
:REP
COPY A:\DATASHOP.REP NETS /V
DEL A:\DATASHOP.REP
LOCALCAM PCB:C:\PCB FName:Tom LName:Carroll Pwrd: REP
:END
IF EXIST NETS\DATASHOP.QWK COPY NETS\DATASHOP.QWK A: /V
IF EXIST NETS\DATASHOP.QWK DEL NETS\DATASHOP.QWK
CD\ROBO\MAIL
IF EXIST *.QW? COPY *.QW? A: /V
IF EXIST *.QW? DEL *.QW?
GOTO RESUME
:NETMAIL
REM           ---------        GET NETMAIL FROM HOST BBS        ---------
BNU /Q /M
CD \CAM-MAIL\NETS
IF EXIST ONESTOP.QW1 DEL ONESTOP.QW1
IF EXIST ONESTOP.QWK REN ONESTOP.QWK ONESTOP.QW1
CD \CAM-MAIL
EXPORT ONESTOP
CD \ROBO
ROBOCOMM /ANETMAIL /R
CD \CAM-MAIL\NETS
IF EXIST ONESTOP.QWK GOTO NUKEIN
GOTO NONUKE
:NUKEIN
CD \CAM-MAIL
IMPORT ONESTOP /DUPS /MAILFLAGS
:NONUKE
CD \FD
GOTO START
REM           ---------        PROCESS FRONT DOOR ERROR         ---------
:ERROR
CLS
IF ERRORLEVEL== 8 ECHO ERROR: FRONT DOOR ALREADY LOADED!  USE EXIT TO RETURN
IF ERRORLEVEL== 7 ECHO ERROR: FOSSIL DRIVER NOT LOADED OR DETECTED!
IF ERRORLEVEL== 6 ECHO ERROR: INCORRECT FOSSIL VERSION FOR FRONT DOOR!
IF ERRORLEVEL== 5 ECHO ERROR: CANNOT INITIALIZE THE MODEM!
IF ERRORLEVEL== 3 ECHO ERROR: LESS THAN 32KB OF DISK SPACE AVAILABLE!
IF ERRORLEVEL== 2 ECHO ERROR: EXTERNAL ERROR - MISSING PATH, FILES, ETC.
IF ERRORLEVEL== 1 ECHO ERROR: INTERNAL ERROR
BNU /C
GOTO DONE
REM           ---------        EXIT FRONT DOOR NORMALLY         ---------
:QUIT
ECHO Normal Exit!
:DONE
BNU /Q /MEXEBBS.BAT

@ECHO OFF
SET CONTYPE=/ERR
IF "%1"=="9600" SET SPED=6
IF "%1"=="2400" SET SPED=3
IF "%1"=="1200" SET SPED=2
IF "%4"=="/NONE" SET CONTYPE=
IF "%4"=="" SET CONTYPE=
SET EVENT=%3
BOARD %1 %2

BOARDC.BAT

@ECHO OFF
C:
CD \PCB
SET PCB=/BYTECRED:1.5 /CONNECT:%1 /MAIN /NOPROMOTE /SWAP /UPCRED:1
IF EXIST REMOTE.BAT RENAME REMOTE.BAT REMOTE.SYS
IF EXIST EVENT.BAT RENAME EVENT.BAT EVENT.SYS
IF EXIST DOOR.BAT DEL DOOR.BAT
IF EXIST ENDPCB DEL ENDPCB
PCB145 /C:%SPED% %CONTYPE% /EVENT:%EVENT%
IF EXIST REMOTE.BAT REMOTE
IF EXIST DOOR.BAT DOOR
IF EXIST EVENT.BAT EVENT
IF EXIST ENDPCB GOTO END
BOARD
:END
RUNBOARDL.BAT

@ECHO OFF
C:
CD \PCB
SET PCB=/MAIN /SWAP
SET LASTON=LOCAL
IF EXIST REMOTE.BAT REN REMOTE.BAT REMOTE.SYS
IF EXIST EVENT.BAT REN EVENT.BAT EVENT.SYS
IF EXIST DOOR.BAT DEL DOOR.BAT
IF EXIST ENDPCB DEL ENDPCB
PCB145 /LOCALON
IF EXIST REMOTE.BAT REMOTE
IF EXIST DOOR.BAT DOOR
IF EXIST EVENT.BAT EVENT
IF EXIST ENDPCB GOTO END
BOARD
:END
RUN

EVENT.SYS

@ECHO OFF
C:
CD \PCB
DEL EVENT.LOG
CLS
ECHO Conducting Tradewars Maintenance...
C:
CD \DOORS\TWARS
EXTERN -DOOR
CLS
ECHO Tradewars Maintenance Finished >> C:\pcb\event.log
ECHO Extracting Echo Mail...
C:
CD \CAM-MAIL\NETS
IF EXIST DATASHOP.RE1 DEL DATASHOP.RE1
IF EXIST DATASHOP.REP REN DATASHOP.REP DATASHOP.RE1
IF EXIST ONESTOP.QW1 DEL ONESTOP.QW1
IF EXIST ONESTOP.QWK REN ONESTOP.QWK ONESTOP.QW1
IF EXIST ONESTOP.RE1 DEL ONESTOP.RE1
IF EXIST ONESTOP.REP REN ONESTOP.REP ONESTOP.RE1
CD \CAM-MAIL
EXPORT ONESTOP
CD \PCB
CLS
ECHO Net-Mail Extracted >> C:\pcb\event.log
ECHO Packing Message Bases...
PCBPACK /area:0-15 /fast /killbak /killdups /purge /upcase
PCBPACK /area:16-39 /fast /killbak /killdups /maxmsgs:1500 /purge /upcase
CLS
ECHO Message Bases Packed >> C:\pcb\event.log
ECHO Packing Users File...
PCBSM /pack;remove;days:60;keep:70
CLS
ECHO Users File Packed >> C:\pcb\event.log
ECHO Sorting Users File...
PCBSM /sort;security;prireverse
CLS
ECHO Users File Sorted >> C:\pcb\event.log
ECHO Loading Robocomm (First Agenda)...
C:
CD \ROBO
DEL ROBOCOMM.LOG
Robocomm /AFIRST /R /P
CLS
ECHO Robocomm (First Agenda) completed >> C:\pcb\event.log
ECHO Importing Echo Mail...
CD \CAM-MAIL
IF EXIST NETS\ONESTOP.QWK GOTO IMPORT
GOTO SORT
:IMPORT
IMPORT ONESTOP /DUPS /MAILFLAGS
rem CRCSM
CLS
ECHO Net-Mail Imported >> C:\pcb\event.log
CD \PCB
PCBPACK /area:40-81 /fast /killbak /killdups /maxmsgs:500 /purge /upcase
:SORT
PCBFILER /SORT
ECHO Directory sort completed >> C:\pcb\event.log
CLS
ECHO Creating BBS catalog of files...
PCBLOF 0 15
REN PCBLOF.LST DATASHOP.CAT
ARJ A -m1 !CATALOG DATASHOP.CAT
COPY !CATALOG.ARJ C:\FREE /V
DEL DATASHOP.CAT
DEL !CATALOG.ARJ
ECHO BBS catalog of files updated >> C:\PCB\EVENT.LOG
ECHO Returning to Front Door
C:
CD \FD
RUN
