Atari 8-bit related BBS(s)

[Tillek]

.................... and..... we got a problem.

 

It's not reading all 4mb.. Which means when I pulled the memory out and put it back in, I goofed.

 

I'll have to get to it tomorrow...

[moonlight_mile]

Is anybody using bbs express Pro 2.x with a lantronix mss10 and an 850 and having hangup issues?

[JohnPolka]

Is anybody using bbs express Pro 2.x with a lantronix mss10 and an 850 and having hangup issues?

 

It's not a Pro! BBS, but I noticed the ST Guild is having trouble disconnecting. I wonder if they're using a Lantronix box to connect to the Internet.

 

-JP

[moonlight_mile]

 

It's not a Pro! BBS, but I noticed the ST Guild is having trouble disconnecting. I wonder if they're using a Lantronix box to connect to the Internet.

 

-JP

I sent him some feedback regarding that very issue this morning.

[JohnPolka]

I sent him some feedback regarding that very issue this morning.

 

I sent him feedback too. Hope he can fix it. I agree with what you said on the BBS. It's a nice BBS and has a lot of potential!

[Tillek]

I just hope he starts getting some callers so he can be convinced to keep it going.

 

That said...... SFHQ and TVAG are back. SFHQ had a ton of problems one after the other but are all resolved now... (The end result is that it's back on the original Mega STE it was using back in the 90's!). The MSS was giving me some issues too but that seems to be resolved. I hope it's not going out. Might need to pick up a spare.

 

TVAG was just down to give me space on the table to work, so now that SFHQ is back up and everything pretty much put back together, it's back up.

 

Until I take it down to get the XEP80 running... but since this weekend was such a cluster$$$$ (even my PC had issues with the Windows 10 update... which amusingly, I was going to use my TT030 to help me with it but then the Windows machine got the message and suddenly started working again..... I think she realized how easily she could be replaced.

 

Now I just have to get STing working with the CosmosEx again and see if I can bring the other Mega STE back from the dead. *sighs*

 

Did a ton of retro work so I'm not sure if I had a good weekend or a bad one.

[JohnPolka]

I just hope he starts getting some callers so he can be convinced to keep it going.

 

That said...... SFHQ and TVAG are back. SFHQ had a ton of problems one after the other but are all resolved now... (The end result is that it's back on the original Mega STE it was using back in the 90's!). The MSS was giving me some issues too but that seems to be resolved. I hope it's not going out. Might need to pick up a spare.

 

TVAG was just down to give me space on the table to work, so now that SFHQ is back up and everything pretty much put back together, it's back up.

 

 

 

Yeah, I hope he finds some callers too.

 

I am glad you're back online. I just logged off SFHQ. Once again, I had to relearn all of the commands. How long were you down?

 

The same thing is going to happen with TVAG since it's the first Carina BBS I called since the 80s. I'll have to relearn all of the commands again.

[Kyle22]

That ANSI is tedious business! Check out my main menu help screen

 

 

telnet://broadway1.lorexddns.net

 

Standard port: 23

[Kyle22]

Attached is an ARC which contains MAINMENU.HLP which belongs in the >PRO>HELP40AN> directory.

 

MAINMENU.ARC

 

[JohnPolka]

Kyle22,

 

That looks nice. Yes, adding ANSI can be tedious. Check out mine...this is my BBS' 80 column main menu help file.

(You can see it live at basementbbs.ddns.net:9000 -- just make sure you choose ANSI when you log in. Also you need to choose 80 columns for your video width).

 

-JP

 

mainmenu.txt

 

Of course I had to change the extension from .asc to .txt to get AtariAge to accept it. Also if you view it on a non-Atari, the end of line characters are not preserved...so it looks more messed up than it really is.

Edited August 30, 2017 by JohnPolka

[JohnPolka]

I found my arc utility...here's ansi mainmenu.asc file as an arc. Now you can see the real formatting of the file.

 

mm.arc

[Kyle22]

Thanks. I'll check it out after work.

[Kyle22]

What is the preferred tool for editing these? I have been using Textpro 5.20, but it's kind of a pain to use.

[JohnPolka]

What is the preferred tool for editing these? I have been using Textpro 5.20, but it's kind of a pain to use.

I use either the editor in the Action! cart or the BBS' editor.

[Tillek]

What is the preferred tool for editing these? I have been using Textpro 5.20, but it's kind of a pain to use.

If it's a straight ANSI file, I'd recommend FANSI on the ST. (Make some really cool ones!)

[Kyle22]

It's not a normal ANSI file. It uses ATASCII box and line drawing characters, and an ATASCII $9B EOL. Those characters are automatically translated by the BBS to the proper ANSI sequences for the user.

 

To change the text color, it's &gy to make it green on vt52 and yellow on ANSI. &bw sets it back to black on vt52 and white on ANSI.

 

vt52 limited to black, red, green, and ANSI allowing red, green, yelow, blue, magenta, cyan, white.

 

The format is &va where v is the vt52 color, and a is the ANSI one.

 

Edit: Yeah, I had to get the book out for that one.

 

Nice results are possible, but the menu text file can become very difficult to edit.

Edited August 31, 2017 by Kyle22

[JohnPolka]

 

Nice results are possible, but the menu text file can become very difficult to edit.

 

Yeah, as my main menu shows, it is a lot of editing and then you need a terminal emulator that supports it to see your results. I still wonder how I "checked" my work back in the day. I don't recall having a computer that supports PC ANSI in the same room as my Atari 8 bit. But I still managed to put together a decent main menu.

 

When I brought my BBS back online, I was surprised that I also had a true ANSI graphics title screen on my Atari 8 bit BBS. You can see it today when you log in and select '2' for ANSI. I wrote a BBS module that switches the user's translation to ATASCII (so the BBS does not translate any characters), dumps the file to their screen, then switches back to ANSI mode.

 

Still, for what you can do with just the colors on Pro! is very nice. You did a good job adding colors to your BBS.

 

-JP

Edited August 31, 2017 by JohnPolka

[JohnPolka]

 

Yeah, as my main menu shows, it is a lot of editing and then you need a terminal emulator that supports it to see your results. I still wonder how I "checked" my work back in the day. I don't recall having a computer that supports PC ANSI in the same room as my Atari 8 bit. But I still managed to put together a decent main menu.

 

 

OK. As I think about it, I bet I logged into the BBS remotely with a PC and used the BBS' built-in text editor to create my ANSI main menu.

 

Still, it must have been painful since the BBS' text editor is not full screen.

Edited August 31, 2017 by JohnPolka

[Kyle22]

 

Yeah, as my main menu shows, it is a lot of editing and then you need a terminal emulator that supports it to see your results. I still wonder how I "checked" my work back in the day. I don't recall having a computer that supports PC ANSI in the same room as my Atari 8 bit. But I still managed to put together a decent main menu.

 

When I brought my BBS back online, I was surprised that I also had a true ANSI graphics title screen on my Atari 8 bit BBS. You can see it today when you log in and select '2' for ANSI. I wrote a BBS module that switches the user's translation to ATASCII (so the BBS does not translate any characters), dumps the file to their screen, then switches back to ANSI mode.

 

Still, for what you can do with just the colors on Pro! is very nice. You did a good job adding colors to your BBS.

 

-JP

Do you still have that module?

[JohnPolka]

Do you still have that module?

 

Yes, however, the module cannot easily be separated from my BBS because it includes some other customization (e.g., part of the BBS' Windowed menu code is there).

 

This does give me an idea of creating a stand alone module to do it. Moreover, I think I can create a module that can also display ANSI graphics for other files like the main menu. I am in the middle of another project now, but I will put this idea next on my list.

 

The nice part is that once you have this capability, you can use ANSI graphic drawing programs to create your screens. I created my title screen with "The Draw!" back in the 90s.

[Kyle22]

80 col mainmenu.hlp and logoff.hlp fixed.

 

Edit: ANSI, that is.

Edited September 5, 2017 by Kyle22

[Kyle22]

Does anyone have docs on how to use the >PRO>DATA>LOGON.DAT file?

 

It looks like a script that runs at user logon. I want to know what all can be done here. Displaying a text file, for instance.

[JohnPolka]

Does anyone have docs on how to use the >PRO>DATA>LOGON.DAT file?

 

It looks like a script that runs at user logon. I want to know what all can be done here. Displaying a text file, for instance.

I'm not familiar with that file. It sounds like it may be some kind of batch file that allows you to chain some modules/events after a user logs on. Can you post the file?

[Kyle22]

I'm not familiar with that file. It sounds like it may be some kind of batch file that allows you to chain some modules/events after a user logs on. Can you post the file?

 

Sure, here it is ARC'd.

 

LOGON.ARC

 

The file looks like this:

 

--;put a R in first dash for random screens

sysnews h 0

login c 0

checkexp c 0

readmail c 1

qscan cq 1

; sysnews h 0

 

I know it does something because I can move things around in there to change the order of execution of the modules. I can find no info on what the parameters do (such as the h 0 after sysnews, for example.)

[JohnPolka]

 

Sure, here it is ARC'd.

 

LOGON.ARC

 

The file looks like this:

 

--;put a R in first dash for random screens

sysnews h 0

login c 0

checkexp c 0

readmail c 1

qscan cq 1

; sysnews h 0

 

I know it does something because I can move things around in there to change the order of execution of the modules. I can find no info on what the parameters do (such as the h 0 after sysnews, for example.)

 

You might be able to find this module on the Boot Factory which has a number of user created modules for Pro! So, you might be able to find docs there.

 

Saying that, I think I can guess what this file/module does.

 

Looking at the text you provided, I am guessing that the logon module you are using reads this file and executes each event in order except when it's preceded by a semicolon ( . I am guessing the semicolon is used for a comment.

 

Therefore, I am guessing this is the format:

 

[file or command to display/execute] [c[invoker]|h] [security level]

 

The first field is the help file to display or the command execute.

 

The second field indicates if it's a command module to execute or a help file to display. If its a command module you have an optional invoker letter. You see "cq" next to qscan. I'm guessing qscan is some kind of message base quick scan (or it displays the number of unread messages by the user). I recall reading that you can set the invoker variable to 'q' before calling the msgbase command module and it will invoke a quick scan on the message bases. Maybe this has a similar effect. Like the module will automatically invoke a quick scan on the message bases if 'q' is set on the invoker variable.

 

The third field, security level, lets you indicate which commands get executed based on a user's security. 0 indicates the file/command is displayed/executed for everyone (including new users and visitors). 1 indicates the file/command is displayed/executed for those with 1 or high security level, etc.

 

-JP

 

Edit: I missed the part "--;put a R in first dash for random screens" before posting this message. I am guessing "--" on a line by itself will display some random screen. Perhaps there's a file directory where you're supposed to put these random screens in and the module will choose one from that directory.

Edited September 7, 2017 by JohnPolka