Tips on Running TriBBS 5.1 (beta 17) with Windows 3.1 By Steven J. Coker, SysOp of The Regulator BBS (803) 571-1100 Revised May 7, 1994 I have been asked questions by several sysops regarding running TriBBS with Windows 3.1. So, I thought I would post this message which includes most of the general tips and opinions I have to give. These are my opinions based on my experience. No warranty or guarantee of any kind is made regarding this information. Apply these tips at your own risk. 1. Adjust the Timeslice settings in Control Panel's 386 Enhanced Menu. Mine is set to 10, but try various settings to see what works for you. Probably something between 10 and 20 will work best. 2. Use a BOARD.PIF file for the BOARD.BAT and set the Foreground and Background Priority Options to a HIGHER value than the Scheduling settings in the 386 Enhanced menu in Control Panel. I use the following key PIF settings for TriBBS. Execution = Background : This is critical. Background Priority = 800 ; This number depends on several Foreground Priority = 800 ; variables. try 300, 400, 500 ... Lock Application Memory = ON ; I have lots of RAM. Detect Idle Time = OFF ; This might not matter, not sure. Background Execution = ON ; This is critical. The CPU priority of the BBS is equal to the following ratio: BBS CPU time = (assigned priority)/(sum of all priorities now running) When the application is in background, its assigned priority is equal to the background setting in the PIF. Likewise, when it is in the foreground its assigned priority is equal to the foreground setting in the PIF. The following examples are taken from the Windows Resource Kit. Example #1 Resulting Virtual Machine Priority Setting Processor Time Windows in foreground Foreground = 100 50% Background DOS App #1 Background = 50 25% Background DOS App #2 Background = 50 25% Total = 200 100% Example #2 Virtual Machine Priority Setting Processor Time Windows in foreground Foreground = 100 32% Background DOS App #1 Background = 50 17% Background DOS App #2 Background = 50 17% Background DOS App #3 Background = 50 17% Background DOS App #4 Background = 50 17% Total = 300 100% Example #3 Virtual Machine Priority Setting Processor Time Windows in background Background = 50 25% Foreground DOS App #1 Foreground = 100 50% Background DOS App #1 Background = 50 25% Total = 200 100% The critical thing is that you set the priority for Windows and all running non-Windows applications such that the sum of their applicable priorities always gives a satisfactory amount of CPU Time to TriBBS. My experience is that TriBBS 5.1 requires a lot of CPU time. 3. CAREFULLY try modifying the settings in system.ini as shown below. Add or change one line at the time and then restart Windows to see if it solves your problems. ALWAYS make a backup of the system.ini file before you start messing with it. These options are explained in the Windows Resource Kit which is available from MS by mail or BBS download. [386Enh] IdleVMWakeUpTime=1 ;default=8 [options 1,2,4,8,16,32,64 seconds] WinExclusive=off ;default=off [options on or off] VirtualHDIrq=off ;default=on COM2FIFO=ON ;default=on ComBoostTime=4 ;default=2 (milliseconds) try 4, 6, 8, etc. Com2Buffer=512 ;default=128 (characters buffered) ;setting ComxBuffer can slow things down. ;but it may be needed at high speeds. Com2Protocol= ;default is no entry [option is XOFF] ;XOFF not recommended for binary transfers VideoSuspendDisable=on ;default=off The 2 in these lines (e.g. Com2Buffer) is the COM Port number. Change this to your modems port number. 4. Depending on the flavor (Compag, Dell, etc.) and date of your copy of Windows, you may need to upgrade the COM driver to successfully run at speeds over 9600. There are several commercial and shareware COM driver replacements available (KingCom, Cybercomm, etc.) and certain programs like PC Tools Commute and WinFax install their versions of Windows COM drivers. Use the one that works best with your hardware. 5. One of the more serious problems with TriBBS under Windows is that high speed downloads often slow down significantly when the BBS window is in the background. My testing indicates that the problem is related to (or caused by) use of the internal TriBBS file transfer protocols. The solution I have found is to install external protocols such as those from Omen Technology. With Omen's protocols I have not observed such slowdowns. So, when using Windows, install external protocols and do not use TriBBS 5.1 internal file transfer protocols. Hopefully, this flaw will be fixed in a future release of TriBBS. 6. You will probably want to run Windows programs from a DOS window using a Batch file for some events. There are special windows programs that allow you to do this. I have listed a few of them below. ------------------------------------------------- EDOS for Windows v3.65-H. Powerful device driver that adds many amazing features to your DOS sessions in Windows 386 Enhanced Mode. Entering a command at the DOS prompt which refers to an executable file which is a Windows application will cause that application to be executed as if it were a Windows application. Order From: Firefly Software Systems Corp. P.O. Box 5035 Oregon City, OR 97945 Phone 800-248-0809 or 503-694-2282, FAX: 503-665-9876. For Tech Support and Information: 503-694-2221 Hours: 10 am to 10 pm, Pacific Time. Compuserve: 71171,47 Internet: 71171.47@COMPUSERVE.COM ------------------------------------------------- Win-Link. Win-Link does 3 things: You can start Windows applications from a DOS box. You can start another DOS box from a DOS box using launch. When you print from a DOS box it goes to the Windows spooler. Order From: WTB Software 15127 N.E. 24th Suite 325 Redmond, WA 98052 BBS: 206-868-2250 ---------------------------------------------------- Win-One v4.1. Enhanced DOS Command Shell. WinOne is a Command Language Interpreter, similar in concept to the DOS shell COMMAND.COM, except that WinOne has been designed to enable you get the most out of your Windows 3.1 operating system. WinOne allows not only DOS commands and programs to be executed, but also windows programs to be executed correctly. Order From: Lucien Cinc 56A Harbord Rd Harbord, NSW Australia, 2096 ---------------------------------------------------- My top ten list of causes for windows problems. 10. Shadowram conflict with memory configuration. Recommendation - Disable shadowram or fix memory configuration. 9. Old version of DOS programs (e.g. Stacker) used with new version of DOS. Recommendation - Upgrade to latest versions. 8. Defects on hard disk. Recommendation - Run diagnostic utilities (e.g. Stac, Norton) monthly or weekly. 7. File allocation errors. Recommendation - Run utilities (e.g. Stac, Norton) monthly or weekly. 6. Screwed up memory configuration. Recommendation - Run memmaker or QEMM, then fine tune manually. 5. Erase protection conflicts. Recommendation - Disable erase protect or setup to not protect files that are routinely created and for which unerasing would never be needed. Also, disable erase protect whenever empty disk space is small. 4. Old DOS or Windows program that causes memory errors. Recommendation - Either upgrade the offending program or don't use it. 3. Old device drivers, especially video drivers. Recommendation - Upgrade to newest version from the vendor. 2. Not enough memory. Recommendation - Add memory and create a large permanent swapfile. 1. Impatient, scared, confused, or low IQ user. Recommendation - Pay for help setting up Windows, and give up running a BBS.