ÉÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ» º ÇÄ¿ º K E E P I N G I N T O U C H º ³ º ÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ º ³ º SPITFIRE Monthly Support Newsletter º ³ º for registered SPITFIRE Sysops! º ³ º October 1993 º ³ º Compliments of BUFFALO CREEK SOFTWARE º ³ º Buffalo Creek's BBS * 515-225-8496 º ³ º 38400/19200/9600/2400/1200 Baud º ³ º 2 Nodes º ³ º º ³ ÈÍÑÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͼ ³ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ Edited by Jacque Shipley The Mother Board BBS - (515) 986-3464 - 19200 Baud Sysop Of The Month by Walt Crede Roam This Fertile Land - (515) 288-8755 - 2400 Baud Newly Registered SPITFIRE BBS List by Ann Woltz Other Contributions As Noted ÉÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ» º Notes from the author of SPITFIRE! ÇÄ¿ ÈÍÑÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͼ ³ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ SPITFIRE v3.4 RELEASED ---------------------- This is surely old news by now, but SPITFIRE v3.4 was officially released on October 1, 1993. The upgrade requests have been going quite smoothly. As of this date (October 5, 1993), 803 SPITFIRE Sysops have upgraded to SPITFIRE v3.4. Basically, the only problem involved in the upgrade process (on our end) is that some Sysops who upgraded by having a package shipped to them feel they are missing SFPUTSN.COM. They are correct that SFPUTSN.COM was not shipped to them, however, they have no need for it since the copy of SPITFIRE on their diskette has already been converted to reflect their name and serial number. The current version of SFPUTSN.COM will only work for SPITFIRE v3.4 and will not work with future versions of SPITFIRE. WHY?????? The reason why is somewhat simple. If SFPUTSN would work with any version of SPITFIRE, then we would not be able to maintain an accurate list of current SPITFIRE boards. Thus, the BBS lists which we maintain (SFBBLST.TXT) would quickly become inaccurate. More important, we wouldn't know who to mail upgrade notices to and thus we would have to mail to everyone who ever registered SPITFIRE which is unreasonable considering that each upgrade notice which we mail costs us nearly $1.00 (hard to believe, isn't it?). One last note about SPITFIRE v3.4! I have just found it amazing how many 'inactive' SPITFIRE Sysops (have not kept up with the upgrades, discontinued their board or changed software) all of a sudden have miraculously came to life (so to speak). Additionally, I am receiving a lot of messages that say things like 'best upgrade ever'. I think that there is a lesson to be learned from this. I suspect I can make more people happy by making (somewhat meaningless) cosmetic changes than I can by making good substantial changes. This is kind of an amazing lesson to me. How do you like RIP graphics by now????? They are really kind of nice, aren't they? SORRY FOR BEING TESTE! ---------------------- I need to apologize for my conduct in certain messages. It seems that I get a bit 'teste' whenever a new version of SPITFIRE is released and there are times that my messages are less than kind. If you have been on the receiving end of one of those messages, please accept my sincere apology. I don't want to make excuses, but there is a tremendous amount of stress that gets involved when getting a new release out the door. Then, whenever something burps, the new version gets the blame etc etc etc etc. It sure serves to get me down. Anyway, I realize that I need to learn to deal with it better than I do. QWK NET-MAIL SYSTEM BEING WRITTEN FOR SPITFIRE ---------------------------------------------- Last month I advised you that I was considering writing a QWK net-mail system for SPITFIRE and I asked for your feedback. I am pleased to announce that the feedback I received was all positive. I have received lots of offers to test the software. Thus, the decision has been made that I will write the software (in fact it is already started). Hopefully, I will have an import module ready for testing in the very near future. This software will be written in the normal Buffalo Creek Software manner (no whistles and bells - just a get-the-job-done program). PLANS FOR SPITFIRE v3.5 ARE BEING FORMULATED! --------------------------------------------- As you may recall, I was in the process of developing a revision of SPITFIRE when this RIP thing came along and kind of got in the way of that revision. Well, now it is time to go back to work on some of the changes that I want to make to SPITFIRE. Basically, a couple of the changes which I have in mind are improvements to the File Section of SPITFIRE (there really hasn't been any changes in the File Section since the tagging feature was implemented) and an improved node chat. Oh ya, I plan to add a subscription feature within SPITFIRE. SMALL GLITCH FOUND IN SPITFIRE v3.4! ------------------------------------ Wayne Boshell ("The Fun Seekers" BBS - 408-379-0958) kindly (smiling) advised me that SPITFIRE does not always increase the number of callers when operating SPITFIRE multi-node. Wayne was absolutely correct and I believe I have located the problem and fixed it. Wayne tells me that I never give him credit for anything (smiling). Well, Wayne, here is your credit and thank you for noticing it!!!!!! BOARDWATCH MAGAZINE ADVISED! ---------------------------- I have noticed that BOARDWATCH MAGAZINE has not updated their information about SPITFIRE for years. Thus, I took the time to write them a letter and provided them with the current information about SPITFIRE. It will be interesting to see if they make the changes. SOMETHING TO CONSIDER! ---------------------- ÉÍÍ[ Ephesians 2:8-9 ]ÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ» º For by grace are ye saved through faith; and ÇÄ¿ º that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God º ³ º - not of works, lest any man should boast. º ³ ÈÍÑÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͼ ³ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ I want to thank each of your for your continued support and promotion of SPITFIRE ... it is very much appreciated. May God bless you and yours ... Mike Woltz ÕÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ͸ ³ RUNNING LAKOTA LOCALLY ³ ÔÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ; Many Sysops are unaware of an undocumented feature that allows LAKOTA to be run locally from the DOS prompt. Using this feature, the Sysop can download or upload messages using LAKOTA without logging on to the BBS. For LAKOTA to run, all that is needed is a copy of any one of the caller information data files (SFDOORS.DAT, SFMAIN.DAT, SFMESS.DAT or SFFILE.DAT). The first step in setting up LAKOTA to run from the DOS prompt is to log onto your BBS locally. While logged on locally, select on of the Sysop configurable command options, a SPITFIRE door or LAKOTA. This will create the required data file. It should be common knowledge that SPITFIRE automatically erases these files when it returns from SPITFIRE doors or the respective extended menu option. Therefore, you must do one of two things. First, if possible, jump to DOS and copy the appropriate data file over to SFMESS.TMP. If you are unable to jump to DOS, after logging of the BBS, use an unerase utility to recover the data file and rename it to SFMESS.TMP. (The .TMP extension can be replaced with any extension except for the original extension of .DAT. If an extension other than .TMP is used, you will need to make the appropriate modifications to the example batch file which appears below.) Now that you have a temporary data file, a batch file will need to be created which you will use for running LAKOTA from the DOS prompt. It should look something like this: @ECHO OFF COPY SFMESS.TMP SFMESS.DAT LAKOTA ERASE SFMESS.DAT Quite simply, the batch file copies the temporary user info data file to SFMESS.DAT. Next, it executes LAKOTA. All the options that are available in LAKOTA when run while logged on the BBS is also available when LAKOTA is ran locally in this manner. Next, the SFMESS.DAT file is erased, just as if LAKOTA were run from within SPITFIRE. Using LAKOTA from the DOS prompt eliminates unnecessary log ons to the BBS when the sole purpose of loggin on is to download or upload mail packets. It is also much quicker, in that you do not have to go through the log on process in order to perform mail packet transfers. ÕÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ͸ ³ COMMONLY ASKED QUESTIONS ON RIP GRAPHICS ³ ÔÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ; Q. My callers do not like the control panel RIP screens due to the fact that they draw so slow on the screen. Are these necessary? A. The MAINCTRL.RIP, FILECTRL.RIP and MSGCTRL.RIP screens are, like any SPITFIRE display file, completely optional. They are included in SPITFIRE v3.4 to provide the capability of making a SPITFIRE BBS completely mouse driven. However, if this is not something the Sysop wishes to make available, the RIP control panel screens should be removed from the display file directory. Q. I have configured my BBS to allow RIP Graphics. However, when I log on locally to the BBS, only the ANSI (.CLR) display files are shown to me. Why? A. The RIP Graphics display screens are not displayed to the local monitor. The RIP Graphic screens are only displayed to the remote caller. Some BBS software packages display the RIPscrip language to the screen. However, SPITFIRE instead will display the ANSI equivalent of the RIP screen to the local monitor if it is found in the display directory. If the ANSI screen is not available, SPITFIRE will then attempt to display the ASCII equivalent of the RIP screen to the local monitor provided it is found in the display directory. If neither the ANSI or ASCII equivalent to the RIP display screen can be found in the display directory, in most instances a default SPITFIRE message will be displayed. Q. I am currently running my BBS on a computer with a CGA monitor. Will I need to upgrade my monitor in order to configure my BBS to make RIP Graphics available to my callers? A. As explained in the previous question, SPITFIRE does not display the RIP screens to the local monitor. Therefore, no special equipment is needed for the BBS in order to configure the BBS so that RIP Graphics will be available to your callers. However, some programs which are used to create, edit or view RIP Graphic screens may require a VGA monitor and mouse. You will need to refer to the documentation for the program you are using to determine if any equipment upgrade is required to use such a program. Q. I am confused about what files my callers must download from my BBS in order to view RIP graphics. Can you clarify this? A. First of all, a caller must log onto the BBS using a RIP terminal program in order to have the option of selecting RIP Graphics. RIPTM154.ZIP is a terminal program which supports the RIPscrip language and is written by TeleGraphix Communications, Inc. It is suggested that this be available for download from your BBS. As far as needing to download special files in order to view the RIP Graphic display screens you have created for your BBS, this is only necessary if you are using "non-standard" Icons. Icons must exist on the callers drive before they will be displayed. The RIPscrip language does not transfer the Icon image with the screen but rather sends a request for the Icon. When the request is received by the terminal program, it is displayed with the RIP Graphic screen - provided it exists in the Icon directory of the RIP terminal program. As discussed in RIPTIPS.DOC, it is for this reason that it is recommended the use of Icons should be limited to those most widely available or, you should make the Icons used in your RIP screens available for download to your callers. ÕÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ͸ ³ SPITFIRE BOARD-OF-THE-MONTH ³ ÔÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ; Carol Rex, Sysop The AirShow (904)347-5143 You've Come A Long Way Baby ! AirShow Board Of The Month.... Ron, my husband,purchased a little XT with 20 mg hard drive and 1200 baud modem back in 1988. To test out that modem he dialed up a local BBS in Waterbury Connecticut. I guess all those flashing ANSI screens captured my eye and I was hooked on BBS'ing. One of the boards that I regularly called ran SPITFIRE and I loved the caller friendliness of the software...and the setup of the board. SPITFIRE was what I wanted...Hence The AirShow was born in 1989 with SPITFIRE V2.7. The name chosen because the husband is a commercial pilot.. It ran on that little XT for 6 months before a spanking new 286/16 arrived with 80 mg hard drive and 2400 baud modem. My goodness, all that speed and space..! AirShow soon outgrew that 80mg SCSI drive and 2400 baud modem ....This does seem to happen, doesn't it? A US Robotics 16.8 arrived...and another 80 mg drive.For Christmas 1991, a 542 mg SCSI was added, so we now have 700 mgs and a CD ROM. Trusty Rusty still runs SPITFIRE and The AirShow with virtually no problems...After moving to Ocala, Florida in 1992 the board has become quite popular, butting heads with the local WWIV, Maximus and PC Boards dominating the area.... I've enjoyed the many 'modem' acquaintances I've met ...and I especially want to thank Bill Arlowski (Reverse Polarity), Mike Robinson (The Soft Parade), and Larry Easley (The Ranch House) for their knowledge and patience. Hey, Bill, I still run that Days thing...and guess what? I finally learned how to C:\SF\Display ha ha ha ÕÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ͸ ³ SYSOP-OF-THE-MONTH ³ ÔÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ; Bruce Vogel Bird House BBS (502) 942-1497 14400bps I am the sysop of Bird House. I am in the US ARMY (17 years now) currently stationed at Fort Knox, Kentucky as an Instructor on a live fire range (training basic Trainees) about Defensive Fire. I have been married for 10 years now with three lovely children (Sinae, Pamela and Robert) (each born in a different country (KOREA/USA/GERMANY) so I can say that my children are from all over the world) who all are interested in the computer. My wife Suk feels that if a telephone can not do the job then it is not needed, but she supports me very much with running a BBS. Currently Sinae age 9 is already trying to learn the fun part of being a SYSOP (look out world another BBS will come forth from this in the future). I started out in 1982 with a Commodore 64 and for the next few years or so thought I had the best puter in the world. Then I upgraded to a Commodore 128 and bought a 10meg HD and I was in HOG heaven. In 1988 I traded in the Commodore family for a 286 IBM clone and found out that I had to start learning stuff all over again. One small fact I failed to mentioned was that a modem came with it. So the world of BBS's was opened and I was thrilled being a user and on occasion helping a friend debug his BBS which was QBBS. Then one day my friend said why don't you run your own BBS and said here try this! (Guess what that was? SPITFIRE 3.0) (He said this BBS software was alot easier to run than most of the other ones on the market). Well being a doubter I also checked out Wild Cat and a few others but RUSHED back to SPITFIRE each time. Within 2 months I knew that SPITFIRE was the way to go so I called LONG DISTANT from Berlin Germany (where I was stationed at the time) to get SPITFIRE registered. Low and behold I was getting remarks from users like "wish the other BBS's user friendly as yours". So all that I can say is THANK YOU Mike Woltz and family for allowing/supporting him with SPITFIRE. You have made my HOBBIE and possible future JOB a great pleasure. SPITFIRE, in my opinion, is the Best full featured, easy to operate and maintain Bulletin Board System available on the market to date, and for years to come. Mike and his staff have done a great job in creating and updating SPITFIRE. I am proud to be a registeredd user of SPITFIRE and agree with Mike, that SPITFIRE sysops are "TOP SHELF PEOPLE". The name Bird House came when I D/L a file and was thinking about calling the BBS "The Bird Nest" and surprise, surprise a GIF popped out advertising a BBS called Bird's Nest. Well that was to close to my original planned name so I quickly chose Bird House. By the way "Vogel" in German means "Bird". So if and when you call the Bird House BBS you are calling a REAL BIRD House. I would also like to thank one other person: Steve Newman (Mr CircuitNet). Without your un-thankless efforts I more than likely would not be talking to all these great Sysop's today! So heres' one for you: THANK YOU! ÕÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ͸ ³ NEWLY REGISTERED SPITFIRE SYSTEMS ³ ÔÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ; A hearty welcome is extended to the following, who have recently become public registered SPITFIRE Bulletin Board Systems: Ed's Place BBS...............................903-839-6170...14400 Baud Eric Hauge, Sysop....................................Whitehouse, Texas Cyberville...................................703-680-3255...14400 Baud Darren Whaley, Sysop...............................Dale City, Virginia The Light-Quest BBS..........................915-858-7561...14400 Baud Kenny Scott, Sysop......................................El Paso, Texas Alaska North BBS.............................907-373-1241...38400 Baud Ernest Hudson, Sysop...................................Wasilla, Alaska Dragon's Lair................................904-651-1109...14400 Baud Jerry Joseph, Sysop..................................Shalimar, Florida Applied-On-Line..............................619-743-3168...14400 Baud Applied Tooling & Mfg, Sysop.....................Escondido, California The rock.....................................617-825-1593....2400 Baud Stanley Osinski, Sysop.......................Dorchester, Massachusetts Metro Deaf BBS...............................612-673-9974...14400 Baud Peter Malm, Sysop...............................Minneapolis, Minnesota Jake & Elwood's BBS..........................606-789-6297...14400 Baud Mike Patrick, Sysop..............................Paintsville, Kentucky Cat's Eye BBS................................817-261-8417....2400 Baud Scott Lancaster, Sysop................................Arlington, Texas The Dispatch BBS.............................813-547-9088....9600 Baud John Fahlsing, Sysop...........................St. Petersburg, Florida The Flaming Star.............................812-898-2561...14400 Baud April Brown, Sysop................................Terre Haute, Indiana Rob Roy BBS.................................203-596-1443.....9600 Baud Rob Roy, Sysop..................................Waterbury, Connecticut Billster's World.............................205-435-7064...14400 Baud William Wood, Sysop..............................Jacksonville, Alabama Triumph BBS..................................907-488-9148....2400 Baud Darryl Abshear, Sysop...............................North Pole, Alaska Micro Mania..................................612-56-00811...19200 Baud Marco Nussbaumer, Sysop............................Stanmore, Australia Speedy Creek BBS.............................306-773-9313...14400 Baud Art Morse, Sysop...................Swift Current, Saskatchewan, Canada WildCat BBS..................................351-1-8490319...9600 Baud Filipe Ferreira, Sysop...........................1495 Lisboa, Portugal Mega BBS.....................................031-867-578....57600 Baud Xatzikostas Kostantinos, Sysop....................Thessaloniki, Greece The Far Side BBS.............................616-894-5909...14400 Baud Steve Carlson, Sysop...............................Whitehall, Michigan The Midnight Byte............................512-358-2520...14400 Baud Allan Amerson, Sysop...................................Beeville, Texas VE3WBZ BBS...................................905-722-6301....2400 Baud Peter Coggon, Sysop...................Jackson's Point, Ontario, Canada Moonshadow BBS...............................513-583-0033...14400 Baud John Leighton, Sysop..................................Cincinnati, Ohio KULTURDATA-Mailbox...........................+75-232-6459...14400 Baud Wolfgang Zanghellini, Sysop..............Schaan, Liechtenstein, Europe M & M Factory................................716-344-4670....2400 Baud Mark Ganzhorn, Sysop.................................Batavia, New York The Fundamental Truth BBS....................207-784-1304....2400 Baud Ron Meldrum, Sysop.....................................Lewiston, Maine Far Side of the Sun..........................815-477-8263...14400 Baud William Watling, Sysop..........................Crystal Lake, Illinois Burps and Toejam BBS.........................708-428-0519...14400 Baud Michael James, Sysop.............................East Dundee, Illinois In addition, there were 8 new private SPITFIRE BBS Systems registered. These private SPITFIRE BBS's included registrations from: Pittsburg, California; Houston, Texas; Bakersfield, California; Peachtree City, Georgia; Cincinnati, Ohio; Minneapolis, Minnesota; LaCrosse, Wisconsin and Topeka, Kansas. There were 18 registrations for whom registration information was incomplete. These included BBS's in: Great Falls, Montana; Vista, California; Nashville, Tennessee; Saginaw, Michigan; Hellertown, Pennsylvania; Seoul, South Korea; Pikeville, Kentucky; Fort Wayne, Indiana; Indianapolis, Indiana; Broken Arrow, Oklahoma; Lancaster, Pennsylvania; Warragul Victoria, Australia; Haslet, Texas; Macon, North Carolina; Cocoa, Florida; Greenwood, Nova Scotia, Canada; Houston, Texas and Petaluma, California. The increase in registrations where information is incomplete is largely due to Buffalo Creek's Software's policy of accepting on-line Mastercard and Visa credit card registrations. JUST A REMINDER...the newsletter is always looking for contributions! Please forward any articles in ASCII text to either Buffalo Creek's BBS or The Mother Board BBS.