------------------------------------------------------------------------- The ShadoeGate CBIS System (C) 1988-1995 Zoo Development ALL RIGHTS RESERVED December 27,1994 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Authors Statement: This is the first full,public release of the ShadoeGate CBIS System. This software has undergone 5 years of development (off and on), and has seen several name changes along the way. Originally called CMA BBS, then went to Interface BBS during commercial development, and finally to the present ShadoeGate CBIS. This is a "pseudo-beta" release in that it has not been tested very extensively by anyone but myself. I find it to be quite stable, but then again, I wrote the thing.... The software was developed on,in,around and for Amiga computers. It has been tested on a stock A500, an ECS A500, a "souped up" A500 with 68020/882 lots of RAM,etc. ,a stock A2000, a stock A4000, and finally, on my current machine, an A2000 with 33MhZ 68040 card and LOTS of ram. This last machine proved the most difficult, but it now runs quite well. Addendum: Also tested on my newest machine,A3000/25 with lots of hardware goodies. The "core" of the program is written in Basic (don't laugh, check it out instead...), several routines are written in Assembly, and several more are written in AmigaE (thanks Wouter!!). In short, I wrote the core in basic to provide for quick,easy and efficient upgrades. Where speed is of the utmost importance, I used assembly, and Amiga E is intersperced throughout the program in places that basic doesn't do so well. Standard Disclaimer: I accept no responsibility whatsoever from the use or misuse of this program. I will provide adequate support for registered users, but if this thing causes your whole house to go up in flames, or causes the death of a neighbors dog, or anything else for that matter, its your problem, not mine. (In other words, if the program isn't working right, I will help as much as I can, but I'm not going to buy you a new computer) ... I HATE disclaimers!! Distribution Statement: This program is provided under the concept of Shareware. If you like this program, you may use it for a period of 30 days, after which you must register with the author in order to continue its use. The inclusion of this product in commercial packages is FORBIDDEN. You may, however, upload this to any net, distribute to FredFish disks (or anything closely similar) or upload to any BBS you see fit. BETA TEST VERSION ADDITION: Shareware fees are waived for all versions to v4.0 ! Registering: Registration of this program is quite simple: Send me an email message at : rlw@the-matrix.com In the message,please list your BBS phone number,your address, an email address would be nice, and anything about the BBS you want to tell me ( type of system, user response, etc...) The first 20 people registering in this manner will be entitled to a FREE major upgrade ( ShadoeGate 4.0 ) when it becomes available. In return, you, the user, agree to keep the latest release of ShadoeGate available for download on your system (it doesn't have to be a free download,just as long as it is there) I am VERY serious about the registration of this program! I cannot offer support for people who I do not know exist, or for BBS's that I dont know exist! If I am out cruising in BBS Land and I find a system that is unregistered, I will leave a message to you concerning your need to register. If I call again and you still have not registered, I will take whatever action that I feel is necessary, be it to register you myself or to ask you to take the system down. Registered users will,upon registration, be entitled to any upgrade for the system that I might have at the time (this excludes a major upgrade,unless it is the first available after your registration). There is no doubt in my mind that there are bugs in this system. For that reason, I ask no money for this release. In future releases, I expect that to be solved. For future upgrades, there will be a one-time fee of $40 US. This will entitle you to any/all of the future upgrades (major or minor). The exception to this is any users who are among the first 20, as stated above. Those users will receive ShadoeGate 4.0 FREE when it is available. Future upgrades will be handled via a support BBS, to be established when the first upgrades become available. I will post info on the various nets and at regitered sites when the time comes. Features: * Fully functional under OS 1.3/2.0/2.1/3.1 * Supports .QWK format message handling * Multiple transfer protocols * Multi-node capable * Unlimited file and message areas * Supports full (16 color) ANSI graphics * Multitasks well * Supports C-Link Message importing/exporting * Supports any door that can read in a text file as parameters * Many others, too numerous to list... Installation: Ok, now for the FUN part :) ... 1. Create a directory for the System. 2. In your startup-sequence, assign 'shadoegate:' to this directory. ex: Makedir dh2:shadoegate assign shadoegate: dh2:shadoegate 3. Copy all files from the "shadoegate" directory of the distribution archive to your shadoegate: directory. 4. Make sure your stack is set to around 30,000. 5. cd to the shadoegate: directory and type "shadoegate". 6. You should now see the bbs up and running. Custom Configuration: The system comes with a complete set of support files for easy startup. You will wish to edit them to suit your preferences. Any file ending in .txt is a simple text file, and may be edited with any text editor. Any file ending in .gfx is an ANSI graphics file, and may be edited with a text or ANSI editor. When editing, be sure to save the file into the directory it came from,with the same name (the bbs looks for certain things in certain places) EDITING config.dat in directory "shadoegate:" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This file represents the main config file for the bbs. It contains all information that the bbs needs when accessing file areas, message areas and many other things. Care must be taken to insure that this file is edited properly. Improper editing of this file can KILL your bbs! This file is in straight ASCII text, and as such may be edited with any text editor that saves in ASCII. The file contains information formatted out as one bit of info per line. Here is what each line does: 38400 >> Line 1, Max Baud Rate supported The ZOO >> Line 2, BBS Name shadoegate: >> Line 3, Path to user file shadoegate: >> Line 4, Path to bbs activity log shadoegate:doors/ >> Line 5, Path to DOORS ATS0=1 >> Line 6, Modem Init String 2 >> Line 7, number of script files you have questions.bbs >> Name of the first script file access.bbs >> And so on, until you have one name for every script 2 >> Number of doors you have runwsh shadoegate:master >> Command to execute for the first door runwsh shadoegate:useredit >> and so on until you have a command for every door. 10 >> Basetime: dont worry about this just yet.. Main Menu : >> Prompt users will see at the MAIN menu Message Bases : >> Prompt users will see at the MESSAGE menu File Areas: >> Prompt users will see at the FILE menu ram: >> Path for temporary activity log 3 >> Number of bulletins you have Babylon.qwk >> Packet name to generate for (D)ownloading messages ShadoeGate.com >> DOMAIN name for your BBS Thats it...simple,right??! EDITING MESSAGE AREA CONFIG FILE: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The file"message.areas" in directory "shadoegate:" contains all info regarding the message bases, and is a bit tricky to edit, but once you get the hang of it, its actually quite simple. The top line of the file contains the number of message areas you have. For each of these areas, a series of entries on consecutive lines must appear. For instance, here is a sample message.areas file: 2 >> Number of areas Test Message Area >> Name if this Area 1 >> Access level for this area shadoegate:message/test/ >> Full AmigaDOS Path for this area 200 >> High message for this area 1 >> Low message for this area 200 >> Last message exported in this area 200 >> Max messages to keep in this area LOCAL >> Type of Area (QWK,LOCAL) Foo.Bar >> Net Name for this echo, if it is an .qwk type area. If it is a Local area, just put anything. and since I have 2 message areas, an entry for the second must exist, as follows: Test Message Area 2 >> Name of this Area 1 >> Access level for this area shadoegate:message/test2/ >> FULL AmigaDOS Path for this area 200 >> High message for this area 1 >> Low message for this area 200 >> Last message exported in this area 200 >> Max messages to keep in this area LOCAL >> Type of Area (QWK,LOCAL,USENET) Foo.Bar >> Net Name for this echo, if it is an .qwk type area. If it is a Local area, just put anything. the whole list would look like this: 2 >> Total number of message areas Test Message Area >> Name of this Area 1 >> Access level for this area shadoegate:message/test/ >> Full AmigaDOS Path for this area 200 >> High message for this area 1 >> Low message for this area 200 >> Last message exported in this area 200 >> Max messages to keep in this area LOCAL >> Type of Area (QWK,LOCAL) Foo.Bar >> Net Name for this echo Test Message Area 2 >> Name of this Area 1 >> Access level for this area shadoegate:message/test2/ >> Full AmigaDOS Path for this area 200 >> High message for this area 1 >> Low message for this area 200 >> Last message exported in this area 200 >> Max messages to keep in this area LOCAL >> Type of Area (QWK,LOCAL) Foo.Bar >> Net Name for this echo of course, anything preceeded by '>>' are my comments, and should not be included. When initially setting up the bbs, all values for high message,low message and last message exported should be set to '1'.... the BBS will automatically maintain this file for you, once it is set up right. EDITING FILE 'file.areas' IN DIRECTORY 'shadoegate:' : ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The file "file.areas" in directory "shadoegate:" contains all information regarding your file area configuration. It is set up similarly to the "message.areas" file above. Each line contains a specific bit of information that is expected to be in a specific place, therefore use great care when editing this file. The top line of the file contains the total number of file areas that you have. Following that is s series of entries that correspond to each file area. The fileds are as follows: 5 >> Total number of file areas Support >> The name of the the first area 4 >> The access level required for this area 0 >> The area to send uploads to shadoegate:file/support/ >> The FULL AmigaDOS path for this area telecomm >> The name of area 2 4 >> Access level for area 2 4 >> Which area to send uploads to for area 2 shadoegate:file/telecomm/ >> FULL AmigaDOS path to area 2 programming >> Name for area 3 4 >> Access level for area 3 4 >> Upload area for area 3 shadoegate:file/programming/ >> FULL AmigaDOS path for area 3 And so on until I had a series of entries for all five areas. Please note that there are no spaces separating the areas..it is one continuous file. EDITING FILE "system.dat" in directory "shadoegate:" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This file is fairly straightforward, and once you create this file it will be maintained for you (as will all of these files). The file contains three lines, each with a bit of information. 102094 >> Date of newest bulletin 5 >> Total number of users presently on the system 2097 >> Total number of calls to the system This file is provided mainly for those SysOps switching over from another piece of software. BUG/PROBLEM REPORTING: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The proper procedure for filing a bug report is as follows: 1. EMAIL me with a description of your system and the problem you are having. Please be as specific as possible. 2. Include in the message a transcript of your userlog file from the time when the error occured (if possible!) . 3. Please be as specific as possible. Give me as much detail and information about the incident as is possible. The more info I have, the more likely I am to recreate and solve the problem I am. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thats all for now....more docs as time permits. Thanks for the support, and happy BBS'ing! -Rick PS: Looking for people willing to write AmigaGuide Docs, System utilities,doors,etc.... free registration and ShadoeGate 4.0 for all accepted contributions!!