A big HOWDY to all PCBoard sysops! Well, the moment you've all been waiting for... (drum roll please) THE PDFM PREVIEW IS READY! After several days of fixing up minor bugs, the preview is ready for distribution. There are two ways that you may obtain the preview: 1) Send me an EMail note requesting UUencoded files (3 files at 60K and 1 at 4K bytes). If you need the UUdecode program, you can get it from Accolade! in area 11 as the file UUEXE502.ZIP. 2) Call the Accolade! BBS in Austin, Texas to download the ZIP file. The file is named PDFMPREV.ZIP and is located in the upload area of his BBS. I've checked with Jack, the sysop of Accolade!, and he has assured me that you should be able to download it as a new user (128K file). Accolade! BBS: (9600) (512) 388-3188 (9600) (512) 388-1100 (2400) (512) 388-1445 Thanks to Jack for allowing me to distribute from his BBS! If either of these methods is unacceptable, please let me know and I'll see what I can do about some other arrangement. --------------------------------- INSTALLING THE PREVIEW The PDFMPREV.ZIP file consists of two files--an INSTALL.BAT and another ZIP file that the install program uses to extract the files. When you run the install batch file, it will create a directory named \PDFM on your current drive and will then unzip the rest of the files into this subdirectory. It will then give you any addition instructions that you need. --------------------------------- DISTRIBUTION The initial distribution of the PDFM preview is to the six people who have responded to my posts on Usenet (if you receive this note through Internet mail from ejd4737@zeus.tamu.edu, then you are in the initial distribution). Also, Jack Moore of Accolade! will get the first copy. You may freely distribute the preview to any other PCBoard sysops who you feel may be interested. Please feel free to post this to other BBS's that you think would be a good distribution point. Jack is going to post it to the Clark Development BBS, so please try not to repost it there. Please, when re-distributing, do not modify any of the files. Distribute only the PDFMPREV.ZIP and not the PREVIEW.ZIP file included with the PDFMPREV.ZIP. A slightly-modified copy of this file (the one you're reading) should also be included in the PDFMPREV.ZIP file along with the INSTALL.BAT and PREVIEW.ZIP file. ---------------------------------- DISCLAIMER Remember, this is a preview of PDFM, and as such it does not incorporate support for actual use with your BBS. It does include a small "sample" BBS which you may manage just like you do your own. You may add file areas, delete the files, add more files, etc. Realize that although it is a preview, its functions are real, NOT SIMULATED. If you delete a file, it is gone. Please read the section below on the previews limitations. Please realize that this is a PREVIEW and not a BETA test. Beta testing has not taken place yet so there may be bugs and incompatibilities that may cause PDFM to either not work or work incorrectly. I have spent a lot of my own time ensuring that the preview has as few bugs as possible, but I cannot guarantee the same level of performance on your system. If you notice any glitches, bugs, or inconsistencies, please let me know and I will track them down. Of course, because the preview is NOT INTENDED for actual use with your BBS but rather as a stand-alone demo, I cannot be responsible for its misuse as a completed program or any consequences of such use. ---------------------------------- LIMITATIONS The preview has several limitations that I feel must be mentioned. Although a lot of the code is exactly what will be distributed with the shareware release, several sections have not been fully implemented. The following list gives the major limitations of the preview. 1) 500 files per area MAX! I didn't want to introduce new bugs by changing this to the 2000 files per area that the shareware version will have. Please do not try to load 2000 files into a single area. I guarantee that PDFM will either complain or crash. 2) The preview does not generate the DIR, DIR.LST, DLPATH, or any DIRxx files that PCBoard uses. Although the preview contains some of the code needed to do this, I did not want the preview to have these capabilities in order to protect the integrity of your BBS and ensure such use of the preview is not possible. 3) A couple of functions have not been completed. Please read the PREVIEW.DOC file distributed with the preview for more information. ---------------------------------- HOW TO CONTACT ME You may contact me either using one of the below means: Internet: ejd4737@zeus.tamu.edu U.S. Mail: Eric Deal 22 Dashwood Forest The Woodlands, TX 77381 Please do not send E-Mail to the Internet address after 12/1/92 as I will be graduating from Texas A&M and will not have access to that account. If you cannot reach me, you may also contact Jack Moore. He will attempt to answer any questions on using PDFM and will pass all information regarding bugs or comments on the user-interface on to me. Internet: jem@ausvm1.vnet.ibm.com U.S. Mail: Jack Moore 8701 Dorman Cove Austin, TX 78717 Accolade!: Leave messages to Sysop with a subject field that includes "PDFM": (9600) (512) 388-1445 (9600) (512) 388-1100 (2400) (512) 388-3188