What's A BBS? Capitalized terms will be defined at the end of this program feel free to refer. Many of you who are reading this are probably new to telecommunications. This may be your first experience on a network and the term BBS may be Greek to you. The problem with much of the information on the system is that it assumes the the operator is familiar with both the terms and equipment neccessary to implement the programs on file. This file will attempt to give you an under- standing of both the overview and specifics to start your own BBS. What is a BBS? A BBS (Bullitin Board System) is a program that operates on your system allowing other computers to call in via your MODEM (telephone inter-face device) and leave mail to you and other USERS of your system or UPLOAD andDOWNLOAD programs stored in your DRIVES or chat with you via your computer key- board. Services offered vary with the particular BBS program you are using. Read the discription of the program that you wish to download well. A good BBS will offer the following things: A message base for EMAIL UPLOADS AND DOWNLOADS Chat mode with the SYSOP XMODEM and PUNTER file transfers 300 and 1200 BAUD operation modes BULLITINS NEWS USER levels and PASSWORD clearance to use your system. Other things to look for vary with the tastes and needs of the SYSOP for his particular system and may include COLOR GRAPHICS online games and most anything you might wish to add. To be terse a BBS is like a mini Qlink for one user ata time. There are several types of BBSs lets discuss the EXCHANGE BBS first. An exchange BBS is for file transfers only and does not generally allow for messagebases like Email or bullitins etc. This type of BBS is mostly for people who only wish to upload or download files. A mini BBS or resident BBS is one which resides in your computer only and does not use the drives has no file transfer capability and only allows callers to read things like bullitins and news you have loaded into your system. A full featured system will allow many user functions and include all of the above and possibly more. C-Net is a commercial BBS and probably the most popular BBS in use today. It allows all of the above and has much support on Qlink. If you do not wish to buy a commercial BBS there are many very good BBSs available for download on Qlink. These programs are are either FREEWARE or SHAREWARE. Freeware is what the name suggests FREE. Shareware is a program which (if you use it) the author, who has spent much effort and many hours programming, expects to recieve a fee for its use and should recieve it. The fees involved are usually quite low for the quality of programming you are receiving. Let's discuss SETUP alittle. This will be, probably, the most difficult area ofunderstanding especially for new programmers. In most BBSs a WORD PROCESSORS is needed to make the various files such as news, bullitins, welcome, logoff, system information, etc. News might be news about your system or what's happening in your area or something of particualr interest to you that you think those calling might enjoy too. Bullitins are just that information about the equipment you are using on your BBS or information about it's purpose or just items of general interest. Welcome is what your callers will see will see when they first LOG ONto your system it should include what your BBS is about in general, a greeting or cautions about system use. It is a good practice to caution users not to UPLOAD copyrighted programs to your system. This could get both of you in alot of trouble. Most BBSs will also include an area called SIGs (Special Interest Groups) these are sub areas, usually with their own uploads and downloads, of your BBS that appeal to it's particular set of users. BBSs often are dedicated to a theme such as Fantasy Gaming, Flying, Games in general, Astronomy, Astrology, Dating, Computers the list is endless. Whatever you are interested in your BBS can reflect. When you have prepared all your files you must SAVE them to your disk drive as a name your BBS program will recognize and be able to ACCESS as it runs the user will then be able to see and use that part of the BBS as you have prepared it. At this time in our discussion it would be a good time to mention DOCs these are files associated with the BBS you are interested in that tell you how to best set up and run it. You should always make sure that the BBS you are download-ing has a DOC file. It can be a very discouraging experience for new program-mers to have a BBS they can't run and are'nt able to use. Some programmers will not send complete DOCs untill you have paid for their program. I rec-comend Star BBS V5 or above by Rodney Martin. Rodney has done an excellant job all the way around and their is an excellant help file available for this BBS by SYSOP JC. In setting up your BBS it is not neccessary to write down all the information as you enter it you can always usea good SEQ file reader such as Ultra (available in the Qlink utilities area) to read the files you have already written. You can use a good word processor in the same way I reccomend Easy Script but various DOCs will reccomend the bestone for their BBS. TERMS: BBS Bullitin Board System. This is a program that allows other computers to call into your system and access information. UPLOAD This term refers to sending a program to another computer via the telephone lines. DOWNLOAD This term refers to receiving a program to a blank disk on your system from another system. DRIVES Refers to your Disk Drive(s) SYSOP Short for system operator. The one running the BBS service. XMODEM A type of system for uploading and downloading files when both computers are set on Xmodem they can understand and save what the other is sending and make sure is's correct. PUNTER Another type of system for sending and receiving files(programs). USER Someone who uses a BBS. COLOR GRAPHICS A type of BBS which allows color pictures to be used on the system. SET UP The creation of the files neccessary to run the BBS. WORD PROCESSOR A program that allows youto use your computer like a typewriter only with a word processor you can arrange the information you have typed on your CRT(monitor or tv) before you send it to the printer to be typed out. For instance correcting mis-spelled words, changing lines, adding lines or even papagraphs, and alot more. PASSWORD Refers to a word entered by a new user that will allow them into the system at future dates. New users are usually not allowed into all areas of system. You, as the sysop, will set LEVEL new users can have in your system untill you clear them for further use. This feature also allows you to remove users who have misused your system. Newusers should have a low level of access. For example they might be able to read only the Bullitins and enter only one or two Sigs. This allows you to keep some areas of your system private for your better users. There are usually severallevels of access for users allowing them into only the areas that you feel they are qualified to use. The other terms are pretty well defined in the rest of this file. If you have any questions leave Email to Jimmy Blank or the programmer of the BBS you have downloaded. Good Luck!
Amiga7878