Ad109fxx.zip is an archive intended for first time users of adeptxbbs. There is no installation program, what u have to do is create an \Adept dir on an *HPFS* formatted drive. There is no other choice, it must be hpfs formatted or adept will not run. Once you have created the \adept dir, simply place the adpt109.zip file in that dir and using infozips "unzip.exe" unzip the archive. The unzip will create the proper subdirs, and place the adept files in those subdirs. Once the archive has been unzipped, you will find a documentation file called AdpXbbs.Doc in the \adept dir. *READ* it!! The zip file contains a ready to run 2 node adeptxbbs setup, but you still have to configure your com ports for the nodes you're bringing up. The doc file explains all the setup screens and parameters needed. To set up your new 2 node BBS cd to the \adept dir and type: Adept /Nodes 2 /Setup This will start adeptxbbs as a two node bbs and will put it in setup mode so you can configure your nodes for proper com ports, bbs options etc. Once configured choose Shutdown from the Adept menu, do *NOT* close adept by double clicking on the left hand corner shutdown button, if you do, all your hard work configuring it will be lost. You must use the shutdown option to save your configuration. Once you've done that (again cd to the \adept dir if you left it for some reason) and type Adept /Nodes 2 to bring up your 2 node Adeptxbbs. Adept should come on line intialize your modems and the status box should say waiting for call. Congratulations you now have a fully functional 2 line bbs. You will of course want to add message bases, file bases etc and customize to your liking, the AdpXbbs.Doc file and the readme.txt files will be your main reference to accomplish what you want. Read them, there's lots of info there, and your not gonna be able to do anything useful if you don't take the time to read and understand the multitude of options adept has. Real time help (if you can't figure something out from the doc files) can be had via internet IRC chat on any effnet server, such as irc.cris.com, and /join #adept. The #adept chat confernce is always on line and many people drop by there regularly. You can usually find someone to answer your questions or help you out with any problems you may be having. The authors also hang out there regularly. It is a good source of information. For fidonet users, there are two echoes on the backbone devoted to adeptxbbs support. The echo tags are Adeptsoft and AdeptSysop. Traffic there is light (simply because most sysops prefer the irc chat channel for support). There is also a small Fidonet standard network devoted to AdeptXbbs, called appropiatly enough "Adeptnet". For info on joing that network and obtaining nodelists and stuff for it, Contact Leroy Devries of Snovalley Software Exchange (Fidonet 1:343/108.0). He is the ZC for Adeptnet and can point you to an NC in your area, as well as help you out with the echofeeds and names etc. If you have internet access he can be reached at ldv@snoval.com. His bbs is telnetable by telnetting to snoval.com. He also runs an ftp server so if you have ftp access simply ftp to snoval.com, you will find an \adept dir with the latest builds and lots of other goodies in it. (Btw telnet can transfer files to you with regular zmodem transfers if you use something like Zoc or anything else that can do zmodem over the internet). That's it, hope you enjoy your new adeptxbbs system, and welcome to the growing family of adept sysops.