


                           JetBBS Newsletter
                      Issue 2 -- October 7, 1995
                           By Troy Beckstrom

   Welcome to the second JetBBS newsletter!  In this issue, I've
   included answers to many common support questions asked in the
   networked JetBBS Support room, where I post replies and
   announcements each weekend.  Also in this issue: A sample MNU file
   to change your chat command into a menu, how to make the
   full-screen editor clear the screen first, how to make the help
   screens print automatically at each menu, and some tips for using
   TheDraw to make ANSI screens.

   The current version of JetBBS is version 4.0, which I've just
   released.  It'll be available soon as the file JETBBS40.ZIP on
   America Online, CompuServe, ftp.eskimo.com in the jason9
   directory, SimTel's oak.oakland.edu under msdos/bbs, the Jet
   Support BBS at 206-522-8326 or 206-522-3980, and if none of those
   work for you and you have a 5.25" drive, you can request a copy by
   sending to tbeckstr@prostar.com or snail mail to 2318 Second
   Avenue #492, Seattle, WA 98121.

   In the last few months, the JetBBS network has experienced
   explosive growth, with now over 40 BBSes across the country and
   Canada, and more signing on each week.  JetNet delivers e-mail and
   a variety of networked rooms which registered JetBBSes can get
   from the support BBS for just the cost of nightly long distance
   net calls.  The calls usually last less than a minute each and can
   be scheduled to use the cheaper night rates.  Download JETPACK.ZIP
   from the registered files area on the Support BBS for everything
   you need to get on the network.  For questions, send to
   Jason9@jetbbs.com.

   Here is a directory of JetBBSes that are currently on the network.
   The addresses in the left column are the internet addresses of the
   BBSes.  For example, my address is beckstrom@jetbbs.com.  The
   phone numbers are listed for the ones I was able to find, but they
   have not been verified and some of them may have changed.  If
   there's one in your area, give it a call and check out the
   networked rooms.

    E-Mail Address    | Phone      | BBS Name             | Location
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------
            jetbbs.com 206-LAB-TEAM D9 / JetBBS Support    Seattle, WA
         gs.jetbbs.com 206-527-6134 Gauntlet Stronghold    Seattle, WA
     vortex.jetbbs.com 206-363-8669 The Vortex             Seattle, WA
     utopia.jetbbs.com 206-248-6493 Utopia Planitia        Seattle, WA
       sbbs.jetbbs.com 360-750-9204 Shareware              Vancouver, WA
        hha.jetbbs.com 214-319-7866 Hell's Half Acre       Dallas, TX
     necrus.jetbbs.com 214-328-9719 Necrus BBS             Dallas, TX
    brealms.jetbbs.com 212-328-3366 Barren Realms          Dallas, TX
   muckrake.jetbbs.com 817-857-9008 Muckraker              Lorena, TX
         ds.jetbbs.com 817-583-2151 Deep Space BBS         Rosebud, TX
   wacotrib.jetbbs.com              Waco Tribune-Herald    Waco, TX
   immortal.jetbbs.com 512-388-4488 Arch Immortal          Round Rock, TX
         it.jetbbs.com 303-422-0571 It                     Arvada, CO
    fintech.jetbbs.com 303-745-6172 FinTech BBS            Aurora, CO
   brgrbarn.jetbbs.com 719-590-7130 The Burger Barn        Colorado Springs, CO
    writers.jetbbs.com 508-481-5478 The Writer's BBS       Marlborough, MA
     hunter.jetbbs.com 413-589-1048 Hunter BBS             Ludlow, MA
       ssbc.jetbbs.com 508-544-5727 SSBC's BBS             Erving, MA
   lavadome.jetbbs.com 215-357-6516 Lava Dome III          Warminster, PA
   doghouse.jetbbs.com 813-392-8563 The Dog House          Woodward, PA
     wonder.jetbbs.com 704-983-2877 The Small Wonder BBS   Albemarle, NC
     domain.jetbbs.com 910-327-3463 Shadow Master's Domain Sneads Ferry, NC
    the9to9.jetbbs.com 513-729-2308 The 9 to 9 BBS         Cincinnati, OH
    message.jetbbs.com 513-422-3493 The Message Center     Middletown, OH
    galaxy1.jetbbs.com 703-436-3223 Galaxy One Network     Toms Brook, VA
        rhb.jetbbs.com 703-471-6344 Radio Hobbies BBS      Herndon, VA
   cafeoliv.jetbbs.com 616-629-4395 Cafe Olivia BBS        Richland, MI
    catspaw.jetbbs.com 204-834-3443 The Cat's Paw          Carberry, MB
    myworld.jetbbs.com 803-554-9877 My World               Charleston, SC
   datalink.jetbbs.com 912-248-1909 Datalink               Bainbridge, GA
    eressea.jetbbs.com 801-296-0167 Tol Eressea            West Bountiful, UT
   midearth.jetbbs.com 612-722-8663 The Middle Earth BBS   Minneapolis, MN
   beachbum.jetbbs.com              The Beach Bum's BBS    Westfield, MA
    outpost.jetbbs.com 302-575-0315 Outpost Systems        Wilmington, DE
     fencer.jetbbs.com 305-388-3456 The Fencer's BBS       Miami, FL
     shadow.jetbbs.com 504-872-3229 The Plane of Shadows   Houma, LA
      mates.jetbbs.com 503-244-3852 Mates                  Portland, OR
        hoe.jetbbs.com 807-767-2699 Hell on Earth          Thunder Bay, Ontario
   kikstand.jetbbs.com 615-698-1147 Kikstand BBS           Chattanooga, TN
     wizard.jetbbs.com 219-358-1160 Wizard's Wonderland    Huntington, IN
   biologic.jetbbs.com 702-796-4878 BIO-LOGIC              Las Vegas, NV
       mage.jetbbs.com 304-599-7613 M.A.G.E.               Morgantown, WV
   birdland.jetbbs.com              Birdland               Indpls, IN
   cybercit.jetbbs.com 607-735-9689 Cyber City             Elmira, NY
     unseen.jetbbs.com 414-258-8273 Unseen Power           Wauwatosa, WI

    --------

   DSZ is by far the best external transfer program to use with
   JetBBS.  The version I have been using, DSZ0920.ZIP, is the first
   to multitask well under Windows, and is available on the support
   BBS.  With JetBBS versions 3.0 and up, all you have to do is put
   DSZ.COM in your BBS directory and it'll start allowing Zmodem and
   Ymodem.

   If you installed JetBBS for PCZ, you can switch it with this DOS
   command:

     COPY MNU\??DSZ.MNU MNU\??.MNU

    --------

   U.S. Robotics recently came out with two new models of modems, the
   U.S. Robotics Sportster Si, and the Vi.  These new models are not
   the U.S. Robotics Sportster, and have a different AT command set
   compatible with the Hayes standard.  U.S. Robotics was one of the
   first to come out with high speed modems and probably their
   incompatibility was not their fault, but due to Hayes setting
   their standard later.  It's understandable that U.S. Robotics
   should catch up with the Hayes standard now that the Hayes
   standard has become the industry standard again, but what makes me
   mad is that they've picked the one name for it that will
   exacerbate the changeover confusion the most.  The U.S. Robotics
   Sportster Si is not compatible with the U.S. Robotics Sportster,
   but because of the similar name, users could easily choose "U.S.
   Robotics Sportster" from configuration choices lists released
   prior to the "Si".  The "AT" commands are not all compatible and
   it'll print "ERROR" when initializing and not use some of the
   needed features of high speed modems.  The most well known and
   trusted modem in the industry is now difficult to refer to,
   because if you say "U.S. Robotics Sportster", the salesperson may
   assume that of course you want the "new and improved" Si version.
   How are you supposed to say it?  "Sportster not-Si not-Vi?"  From
   what I've heard, in addition to being incompatible with the
   Sportster, the Sportster Si has bugs and is not as high quality as
   the original Sportster.

   Some copies of JetBBS 4.0 went out without being Sportster Si
   aware.  If you chose U.S. Robotics when installing, but it prints
   "ERROR" after the first init string, you need to edit BBS.INI and
   set "ModemInitString1: AT&F&K3".

    --------

   I've heard from sysops running JetBBS on Windows 95 that it
   multitasks it better, which is what I had hoped since Windows 95
   also has to run the software for their online service, making it a
   requirement that it be able to multitask a modem application well.
   Make sure the window you're running JetBBS in has been set to
   multitask in the background.  There's a "Background" button on the
   title bar that must be pressed down for the session to be allowed
   to run in the background.

    --------

   JetBBS may print "Out of Memory" when you try to start it or when
   you use a particular feature that pushes memory usage over the
   limit.  The memory it's referring to is Conventional memory, the
   memory below the infamous 640k limit.  You may have 4MB, 8MB, 32MB
   installed in your machine, it doesn't matter.  The 640k limit is a
   remnant of the backward compatibility of DOS and many programs are
   limited by it.  Use the MEM /C command to get a printout of your
   memory usage and check how much Conventional memory you have.  The
   minimum that JetBBS needs is somewhere around 510k.  Most new
   systems have around 600k, but as you add device drivers and TSRs,
   more of that space is used up.  Try running DOS's MEMMAKER
   program, which can move device drivers into Upper memory where
   they'll be outside the precious lower 640k.

    --------

   The Call Times charts in the Userlog change rapidly at first and
   then more and more slowly.  This is because they keep accumulating
   more and more data over a longer interval.  If you want to start
   them over so they'll reflect more recent usage, delete the file
   SYS\CALLTIME.TXT.  The number of calls listed in the charts will
   not be the same as the caller number printed when you log off
   because the two totals count calls differently and because the
   Call Times total can be reset.

    --------

   Some sysops have requested that the full-screen editor clear the
   screen first.  I specifically avoided doing this, since I often
   want to refer to a post I just read while I write, so I didn't
   want the editor to wipe out the text on the screen.  If you really
   want to clear the screen first, you can do it by adding a line to
   MSG.MNU and SUB.MNU:

     [do]
     goto menu

     :post
     print %esc%[2J%esc%[0;0H             <------Add this line
     printfile %sysdir%\sub%sub%r%room%.txt
     post
     goto menu

     :enterpostinfo
     print This is the message displayed before each post in this
     room.
     print Please limit yourself to 5 lines or less!
     print
     sysopwritefile %sysdir%\sub%sub%r%room%.txt
     goto menu

     :menu
     [menu]

     ;key    command                 level   print

     q,      goto main.mnu,              1,  Quit to Main;
     e,      goto post,                  1,  Enter a message;
     ...etc

    --------

   Here's an example of making a custom menu for your chat command.
   Make a file CHAT.MNU like this:

     [do]
     print I'm very busy, please e-mail
     print [1] Send e-mail
     print [2] Be a jerk and send chat call anyway
     print [3] Emergency loud page
     print [4] Give up
     [menu]
     1,   feedback,       1,  Send mail;
     2,   chat,           1,  Chat anyway;
     3,   chatloud,       3,  Emergency;
     4,   gotoprev,       1,  Quit;

   Then in MAIN.MNU, change the chat line to:

     c,   goto chat.mnu,   1, chat;

    --------

   In version 4.0, I made it the default that if the user presses
   Enter on a blank command line, it prints the help menu.  If you
   upgraded from a previous version and you want this feature, add
   the following command to your GLOBAL.MNU:

   , help,   0, Help!;

   By putting nothing before the first comma, this command is acted
   on when a blank command is entered.  You can use this in other
   menus if you want it to do something different when just Enter is
   pressed.

    --------

   JetBBS Support Room
   By Raybo
   Saturday, Apr 22, 10:13am

   To everyone: FYI: RE: TheDraw & LORD

   I've been noticing a lot of posts concerning using TheDraw, and having to
   edit out the blank lines at the end of the .ans file using an editor of some
   sort. If done properly, this is not necessary. Here's how.

   1> edit the .ans file using TheDraw.
   2> position the cursor at the location where you want the prompt to appear to
      the user.
   3> press ALT-J (This is to convert the file into an animation)
   4> select a screen draw mode. Normally 'T'op, but you can use any mode. They
      will all work. Just remember that anything other than 'T'op will make the
      file larger.
   5> save it.
                 That's it! You don't need to use an editor.

   Note:
     A> the ALT-J function will give you(the Sysop) a lot more flexibility in
        customizing your .ans files to your personal tastes.

     B> smaller .ans files will be about the same size, while larger ones will
        get a little larger.

   Also, concerning running LORD on JetBBS:

   When logged onto the BBS locally, if you play LORD, LORD will recognize your
   node number as 1, even though it will look in the proper place for the drop
   file, and direct all I/O locally. Because of this, even though the new LORD
   revisions are multi-node/multi-user, you MUST NOT PLAY LORD LOCALLY WHILE
   SOMEONE IS PLAYING ON NODE ONE.

   This also has the bad side effect of making some of the LORD IGM's unusable
   on a JetBBS board. The most notable to me is the LORD'S REALM IGM. It will not
   work at all for a local user, while it will work fine for callers. The main
   reason that this one will not work is that it works a little differently than
   most IGM's. It does, however, work just fine as a stand-alone door for local
   users.

    --------

   If you want the help screen to be printed before each menu, here's
   how to do it.  First, in MAIN.MNU, change all the "gotoh" commands
   to "goto".   Then, in all the .MNU files that don't already have
   it, add this to the top:

     [do]
     help

   On the Support BBS, in the Shareware Files area, I've uploaded the
   file NOVICE.ZIP where I've done this and also incorporated a
   Novice/Expert switch so the user can turn it on and off.  To unzip
   it, CD to your BBS directory and unzip it with the -d switch, but
   first make sure you back up your MNU files.

    --------

   If you can't get a particular door to work, and others can, it's
   not necessarily your fault!  I've seen lots of doors that work
   easily on some systems and won't work at all on others.  Also,
   I've seen systems that won't work with any doors at all no matter
   what.  The configurations of IBM PC clones vary so much with
   different makers of the computer, modem, driver software, version
   of DOS, amount of free conventional memory, EMS/XMS drivers,
   CONFIG.SYS configuration, TSRs, Windows configuration, disk
   compression, video hardware, serial port chipset, and on and on,
   door authors aren't able to anticipate all the configurations.
   Also, games need almost all of the conventional memory, so the BBS
   is forced to swap out memory to disk or EMS to make room, which is
   a tricky thing that DOS is not designed to do.  With versions of
   DOS before 3.3, it may not even be possible to swap reliably.

    --------

   The best place to ask support questions is in the JetBBS Support
   room on the support BBS, which is also networked to JetBBSes
   across the country.  To send questions by e-mail, send to
   beckstrom@jetbbs.com.

   Here's a checklist for asking support questions:

   - If it has anything to do with the modem, tell me your modem
     brand and speed.  Also, if you can, send your BBS.INI file
     as ASCII, and tell me if the modem works with a terminal
     programs.

   - I'm rarely ever able to help with problems with doors.  The
     BBS puts the door drop files in C:\BBS and beyond that, all
     the configuration is specific to the door program.

   - If you're having a problem you think has to do with Windows,
     please try it outside of Windows and see if it also does it
     there.  Tell me what version of Windows you're using.

   - Make sure you've upgraded to the latest version, which is
     currently version 4.0.  Call (206)LAB-TEAM to download the
     latest version.
