THE NETWORK COORDINATOR V2.01 (C) 1992 DEMO VERSION Kodiak Solutions Unlimited. 12-15 Vermeer Drive S. Amboy, NJ 08879 Tech Supp BBS (908)525-8295 THIS IS A DEMO VERSION ONLY - YOU MUST HAVE A NETWORK ALREADY INSTALLED (WWIVnet, WWIVlink, FREDnet, ICEnet, FIREnet, etc....) The demo version will not send any updates through the network. This program allows you to run your very own WWIV compatible network. It is significantly different than Wayne Bells NETUP program. In general, it accomplishes the same thing, but does it in a radically different way. The Network Coordinator will allow you to send network updates to: 1. All Nodes in the Network 2. All Nodes in a Group 3. All Nodes in an Area Code 4. All Area Coordinators 5. All Area Coordinators in a Group 6. All Group Coordinators 7. A Single Node The following types of updates are allowed. 1. BBSLIST.* (List of BBSes in the NET) 2. CONNECT.* (List of Connections in the NET) 3. FBACKHDR.NET See Below 4. SUBS.* (List of Subs in the net - will not send SUBS.PUB or SUBS.DAT - although they will appear in the file selection menu) 5. WWIVNEWS.* (WWIVnews Files). 6. *.ZIP See Below * FBACKHDR.NET - This file is inserted at the beginning of the NET analysis mail the BBS sends you after receiving a net update. Caution should be used with this file. Many word processors add an end-of-file marker to this file, which will cause the NET ANALYSIS mail to end BEFORE displaying the whole message. I suggest you create this file using the following command. COPY CON FBACKHDR.NET then type in your message, at the end, press the F6 key. I will have a future version of TNC strip out the EOF code, making it much easier to use. * *.ZIP - I included this option, in the event you would like to send a small file to the nodes in the network. Since newer versions of WWIV may require changes to this software, I figured this would be an easy way to send a new DE100.EXE to all the nodes in the network. Of course, you can use it for other purposes if you wish. The file is NOT unzipped when it is received. It is placed in the appropriate DATA directory when received. An option to send ENCODED MAIL (Source verified) to the nodes is being worked on, but was not completed at the time of this release. INSTALLATION TNC200.EXE should be placed in your main BBS directory. It can be run as a standalone program, or as a door of WWIV (LOCAL ONLY) The Network Coordinator CAN BE installed as a chain like this: A. Description : The Network Coordinator V2.00 B. Filename : TNC200 C. SL : 255 D. AR : None. E. ANSI : Optional F. DOS Interrupt: NO <--- This is critical G. 300 Baud : Allowed H. Shrink : Yes <--- May be necessary I. Disable Pause: No In your CONFIG.SYS file, you should have a statement saying (something like this): FILES=20 The "FILES=" statement is a suggested number (If the number is higher, that is alright). The Network Coordinator program doesn't open anywhere near that amount of files at one time, but if you are running this as a chain, the BBS may leave some files open before you run the program. FOR WWIV 4.21a ONLY ------------------- If you are running WWIV 4.21a or later, then you must also run the WWIV INIT program, and set up a new network as follows. Net Name: DEMOnet Node : 1 Path : C:\WWIV\DEMONET Then copy all the files from your DATA directory into this new directory. HOW TO USE TNC You should setup all of your network files BEFORE running The Network Coordinator. It can't send a file that doesn't exist. If when NETWORK3 is analyzing your network, you see some sort of divide by zero error, this means either your BBSLIST, CONNECT, or CALLOUT.NET files are not setup properly, and you are not connected to the rest of the network. You can find all the info on how to properly set up these files in the DOC file included in the NET software. However, I have included sample BBSLIST & CONNECT files with this program. When you run the program, it will first attempt to figure out which directory your network files are kept in. Once it has figured that out, it will ask you to choose which type of update to send. If you select an option that allows more than one file to be sent (such as BBSLIST - ie BBSLIST.1, BBSLIST.2, BBSLIST.3......), a list of available files will be shown to you. Use the cursor (OR MOUSE) to highlight the selection then press space (or push mouse button) to select the file (a check mark will appear next to each file selected). When you have tagged all the files you want to send press ENTER. (or ESC to ABORT). The program will then ask you to select which nodes to send the files to. Highlight the selection (using mouse or cursor keys), then press return. Depending on what selection you made, a prompt MAY come up asking for an AREA CODE, GROUP NUMBER, or NODE NUMBER. The program will then select the desired nodes and begin sending the files. Note that there is a limitation to the size of ANY FILE sent through the network. The files must be smaller than 31700 bytes before it can be sent. If the file is larger than that, The Network Coordinator program will display an error message indicating the problem. Once the update has been sent, you will be brought back to the main menu again. Note: You must always send a BBSLIST.NET or CONNECT.NET if you want the BBS to Re-Analyze the network. If you just send BBSLIST.1 for example, the file will be received and decoded, but it will not force the network to analyze it. THE DE100.EXE FILE (NOT INCLUDED IN DEMO VERSION) The DE100.EXE file is the program that is used to decode the network updates. It should be placed in the main BBS directory if using an earlier version of the network software (like NET30.ZIP). It can be placed in the PROPER DATA directory if they are using NET31 or later. If installed with WWIV 4.21a or higher, your NETWORK name (ie FREDnet, WWIVnet, OTHERnet, etc...) must be entered exactly the same (upper/lower case doesn't matter though) as the network name you requested. If not, the network will not know where to place the files. Wayne Bell has stated that he will change NET32 to provide the file I need to eliminate this restriction. ERROR MESSAGES YOUR NODES MAY RECEIVE 1. >WARNING< File 'DE2xx.EXE' not found. Get a copy from......: This message is normal, if you are using the GROUP structure for net files. Quite simply, it's looking for a file that the GC would use to send messages to their group. I haven't developed this function for The Network Coordinator yet, so it doesn't exist yet. If you wish, just copy DE100.EXE as that file name, and the message will not appear again. 2. xxxxNET cant find CONFIG.DAT: DE100.EXE can't find CONFIG.DAT. This error message shouldn't occur with WWIV, but might occur if used on another BBS. If it occurs, the update will NOT be performed. 3. xxxxNET Not Properly Set Up, Contact 1@1: This message will occur if the user is using WWIV 4.21a, but doesn't have your net name typed in properly in the INIT program. The network will not know where to place the updates, so they will be lost. 4. Error in xxxxNET Update: The update was incomplete (ie it got cutoff somehow). 5. xxxxNET Update - Non Readable: You are attempting to decode the file from outside the network software, or you are running an incompatible network. This is also a safeguard from LNET/NETPURGE attempting to decode the update (which would actually overwrite your files if it was successful). 6. Bad Net Update Received - Not From xxxxNET: An update was received in xxxxNet, that was from another network (that was using The Network Coordinator). This could be someone attempting to hack your net, or perhaps an error by another Net Coordinator placing the files in the wrong directory. 7. Encryption Error in xxxxNet Update The update didn't decode properly. Either someone was trying to send an update with the same encryption method (possible hack attempt), or the update got corrupted somehow. The update will not be performed. Please note, that this program and the docs are really still in their development stages. It works properly, but I expect to do alot of work on it in the future (it can be improved alot). Updates will be made available to the registered user for a small fee (perhaps $5) to cover postage, disks, and my time. Well, I hope this is enough to get you going. If not, feel free to contact me at my support BBS. Maniac Mansion III (908)525-8295. Revision Log. v1.20 - Initial Public Release. v2.00 - Complete rewrite. Added professional menus, mouse support, file tagging, removed 20 group limit - can now have as many as 255 groups, removed "SEND TO NODES in a FILE" option, added more support for sending ZIP files - prior version would only send FILE.ZIP - new version will send any ZIP file (smaller than 31700 bytes), Removed ANSI.SYS requirement. v2.01 - Improved the input prompts. Changed the menu coding slightly. Created a demo version. Possible Additions: 1. Encoded Mail (Feedback) - Source Verified. 2. Type 20/0 Network Updates - This will let you find out what network subs the nodes are hosting (Nodes must have a SUBS.PUB file listing all the subs they want to appear in the SUBS.LST updates. This is how WWIVnet is now beginning to make their new SUBS.LST files. 3. Separate GC program for GC's to send Encoded Mail, and NET UPDATES to The Network Coordinator.