A User's Guide to GAP





This bulletin will attempt to provide you with an overview of the
features of GAP and give you some idea how to navigate through
the system.  If you're new to GAP you'll find much of value here. 
If you're an old GAP pro, you may still pick up a few things.  If
you know of any tricks or features not mentioned here which you
feel may be useful to others, please tell the sysop about them in
a [C]omment.  If you don't feel like reading this primer online,
you can download (assuming you can figure out how to do that
without reading this) the file USERGIDE.ZIP.

A few words about conventions before we get into the heavy stuff. 
Anything listed in square brackets, [], like the "[C]omment" from
the opening paragraph, refers to GAP commands.  To use that
command you enter the letter within the brackets.  Most of GAP is
context sensitive so commands are only active in certain places
and the same "letter" may mean different things in different
places.  You will occasionally see one or more letters within
quotes in this document.  This is indicating what you should type
in response to a prompt, and the quotes should NOT actually be
typed.  With that said, off we go into the wonderful world of
GAP.


                    Logging into a GAP Board


When you first connect to a GAP system it will ask if you want
color.  After you respond to this, the welcome file made up by
the sysop will be displayed.  This is usually a screen which
identifies the BBS and gives a little information about it.  Some
sysops get very creative in their color opening screens and these
can take quite a while to display, especially at the lower baud
rates.  It's common courtesy to look at the sysop's creative work
at least once (and to let him/her know if you like his/her work),
but the opening screens can get a bit tedious after you've seen
them forty times.  You can avoid having the opening welcome
screen displayed by appending a [Q]uit to your response about the
use of color.  If you don't want color and don't want to see the
opening screen, enter "N Q".  If you would like color menus and
prompts but don't want to see the opening screen, enter "Y Q". 
If you forget the "Q" you can still stop the display by entering
CTRL-K (hold down on the CONTROL key and depress the K).  Both
the "Q" and the CTRL-K can be overridden by the sysop so they may
not work on all GAP systems.

The CTRL-K can also be used to stop most of the display files and
menus.  Again, the sysop can turn off this feature so it may not
work.  Also note that many sysops with high speed and/or MNP
modems lock their com ports at speeds greater than the actual
connect speed.  This may effectively defeat the CTRL-K
termination except on very long display files.


                         The Main Board



Once you have gotten by the opening welcome and news screens, you
will be at the main board menu.  (GAP can be configured to
automatically route you to certain areas of the board so this may
not be true on all GAP boards.)  There are four basic areas in a
GAP system: the main board, the forums, the file areas, and the
doors area.  From the main board prompt you can branch to any of
the other three areas (assuming you have the required security
level and/or are authorized for the forum).

There are several things you can do directly from the main board. 
You can inspect and change your personal data (password, default
protocol, lines per screen, etc.).  You can read bulletins (like
this one).  You can fill out questionnaires for the sysop (often
required for complete registration or access to restricted
forums).  

Probably the most commonly used main board functions are related
to the messaging system.  You can [E]nter and [R]ead messages
from the main menu.  If there is mail waiting for you in the main
board or in one of the forums, you will be notified when you log
on.  It is a VERY good idea to read your mail every time you log
in.  Nothing upsets a sysop quite like sending mail to a user and
having it go unread.  It is considered good form to read all the
mail, but it is absolutely expected that you at least read all
mail addressed to you.

To [R]ead all mail [S]ince you last read the mail, enter "R S" at
the main menu prompt.  The [Y]our mail command will give you a
list of all the message numbers of the messages to and from you. 
Those which have not been read are marked with an asterisk (*). 
If you want to [R]ead all mail to [Y]ou, enter "R Y" at the
prompt.  This will give you all active mail messages addressed to
you and may (probably will) contain several messages you've
already read (assuming you read your mail regularly).  If you
want to [R]ead all mail to [Y]ou [S]ince the last time you read
mail, enter "R Y S" at the prompt.  This last command is
available only from the command prompt and not once you've
entered the mail system.

When you are reading messages GAP allows you to easily follow a
message thread.  To [T]hread forward (read all messages beyond
the current one with the same subject), enter "T" at the message
prompt.  To [T]hread backward, enter "T-".  If the message you
are reading is a reply to another message, you can read the
[O]riginal message by entering "O" at the prompt.  If the
original is also a reply, you can [K]eep threading back by
entering "K" at the prompt.  This is different than using "T-" to
thread backwards.  The [T]hread commands work strictly with the
message subject lines.  The [O]riginal and [K]eep threading back
take you to the message which was replied to by the current
message.  If using [O] and [K] to go back, you can return to the
message you started with by just hitting ENTER at the prompt.  If
you've ever used message threading much on other systems, you'll
appreciate the GAP [O] and [K] functions.

If you want to contribute to a message thread, you can [R]eply to
the current message.  You can change the subject line if you want
(effectively starting a new thread).  GAP allows full editing of
the message you are entering.  If you see you've made a mistake
in a previous line, hit return until you see a prompt line and
then enter [E]dit.  You will be prompted for a line number and
allowed to edit that line.  The edit function will display a menu
of the keys active during editing.  The GAP edit function is a
little unusual, but highly functional.  When you are finished
editing, just hit return.  You can [C]ontinue entering your reply
by entering "C" at the prompt.  When you have finished your
reply, hit return until you get a prompt line and then enter
[S]ave. 

To quote the message you are replying to, start your reply and
hit return until you get a prompt line.  Then enter [O]riginal. 
After the original message is displayed you can enter [Q]uote and
you will be prompted for line numbers.  You can enter either a
single line number or a range of line numbers (5 or 5-8).  This
will cause those lines from the original message to be inserted
into your reply.  If you don't know the line numbers, you can get
GAP to list the original message with line numbers by entering
[L]ines at the quote prompt.  There will be a symbol at the
beginning of the quoted lines to differentiate them from the rest
of your reply.  Usually this will be the ">" symbol.  Quoting
should be used very sparingly since GAP has such an excellent
backward threading mechanism.  It's best to use quoting only to
identify what part of a message you are responding to.  

You can start a new message thread by selecting [E]nter a message
from the main menu.  All of the same editing functions, except
[Q]uote, are available when entering a new message.


                             Forums



Most GAP boards have one or more forums established.  These are
areas of the board that are segregated from the main board. 
Forums can contain separate message areas and/or separate file
areas.  The forum file areas may allow access to the main board
file area as well.  To [J]oin a forum, enter "J" at the main menu
prompt.  You should be presented with a list of the forums
available (and some that may not be available) and can choose by
number which forum you wish to join.  Forums can be thought of as
mini versions of the main board, though forums usually deal with
a specific subject or activity.  Once in a forum you should see a
menu which is similar to the one in the main board.  There may be
more or fewer commands available than in the main board depending
on how the sysop has configured the forum.  When you have
finished with a forum, you can directly [J]oin another forum,
[A]bandon the forum, or say [G]oodbye.  Once you are familiar
with a board and know the forum numbers, you can directly [J]oin
a forum without viewing the forum menu by entering "J" followed
by a space and the forum number.


                           File Areas



The file area on GAP boards is separate from the main board (or
the forum) and must be entered by typing [F]iles from the main
menu.  You should be presented with a menu of the available file
area commands.  A list of the file directories can be seen by
entering [F]ile directories at the file area prompt.  A list of
files available for download will be displayed if you enter a
directory number or [A]ll.  GAP has two types of file lists: a
condensed file list which gives the file name, size, date, and a
one line description, and an enhanced file list which provides
much more data about the files.  You will be prompted for which
type of file list you want.  You can also get a list of [N]ew
files uploaded since you did your last file list.  These commands
can be put together in a string to do a fast survey of new files. 
From the main board or one of the forum main areas, you can type
"F N A" to get a list of all new files in that file area.

File [U]ploads and [D]ownloads are done from within the file
area.  If you have selected one of the batch transfer protocols,
you can transfer several files in one transaction.  The Ymodem
and Zmodem protocols are batch protocols.  If you do a batch
upload, the descriptions of the files you are uploading must be
entered after the uploads are completed.  If you are doing a long
upload and can't wait around for it to finish, leave a [C]omment
to the sysop describing the files you are uploading.  If you are
doing an [U]pload of a single file, you will be prompted for the
file description before the upload actually starts.  Downloads,
batch and single, can proceed unattended without any trouble.  If
a download is the last thing you intend to do during a session,
you can select to auto-logoff following completion of the
transfer.  It is good form to use the fastest, most reliable
protocol you have available to you.  In order of increasing
reliability and efficiency, the common protocols are:

		Xmodem
		Xmodem CRC
		Xmodem/1K
		Ymodem
		Zmodem.

If you have an MNP connection to the board, the -G protocols
(Ymodem-G and Xmodem/1K-G) can be used and will provide better
efficiency than the ones mentioned above.



                              Doors


The last major area on GAP boards is the doors area.  Doors are
external programs that can be run under GAP.  A door is
essentially a passageway from the BBS software to a whole other
world of programs that you can access via your modem.  By far the
most common use for doors is to play games.  The GAP door menu is
reached by entering "OPEN" from the main board menu.  Forums may
also have separate doors accessible from the main forum menu. 
Each BBS is setup and run differently.  Some have dozens of door
programs, others have none at all.  If the [OPEN] option appears
on the menu, try it and see what's available.