Easy and Step by Step Visual Guide Setup Tutorial for Interfacing Wildcat! v4.x with FidoNet. Using Wildcat! BBS v4.x, Wildmail v4.x and Frontdoor v2.12 version 2.0 Written by: Mufutau Towobola P.O. Box 860 Bronx, New York 10468 All Rights Reserved November 11, 1994 FidoNet: 1:278/111 Systematic BBS Node 1: (718) 716-6198 Node 2: (718) 716-6341 Modems in Operation at Systematic BBS includes the following: USRobotics Dual Standard 28.8k v.Everything Practical Peripherals FXSA 14,400 Zoom 28.8k VFC DISCLAIMER NOTICE ================= Although care has been taken to write and test this setup, this document is as is, without any warranty or guarantee of any kind, either expressed or implied, as to the quality or performance of this setup documents, except that it will occupy your precious disk space. I, Mufutau Towobola, the writer of this setup documentations will not be held liable to you or anyone for (but not limited to) any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages, including lost of profits, lost savings, hard drive trash or corruption which may result from the use or inability to use this setup documentations. Your use of this setup documentations constitutes an acceptance of this disclaimer and your release of Mufutau Towobola, the writer of this setup documentations, from any form of liability or litigation whatsoever. I want you to know up front that I do not consider the way I get FidoNet Mail as the ONLY WAY. There are several other programs written that will accomplish the same goal. I am only going to tell you how I use the programs that I have chosen to receive FidoNet Mail. I have used this same configurations for a long time and it has been working well for me, your computer hardware configuration may make your setup behave otherwise. I am also not claiming that my configurations and these programs will be absolutely safe and that your systems will not crash. I did not write any of this programs, and you use them and my suggested setup documentation and configuration sample files AT YOUR OWN RISK. I am only trying to help here; I don't want to end in court for my being helpful. Now I am going to tell you something you may not want to hear. Setting up your system to accept Fidonet mails is definitely going to take some time and efforts on your part. Hopefully this documentation will smooth a lot of things over for you, but YOU will have to put in your own dues. As with all things, your effort WILL PAY OFF. One of life's greatest feelings is watching your first successful mail run. Please do not modify any of this file in anyway, if you have any suggestions that may improve this setup documentations, please contact me at the listed Network conferences mentioned in this documentation, or you can call my board directly. Please post this file on your BBS so that other new Sysops looking for help interfacing their boards to Fidonet can also enjoy it's use. Thanks for being so patience as to read all the above disclaimers. Introduction ============ This project started as a note to some of my fellow SysOps who needed my help in interfacing their BBS with FidoNet. So I just spent extra weeks to turn all my notes into this documentation to better help all other Sysops in need. When I was interfacing my BBS with FidoNet some years ago, I went to hell and back before I can get everything working well, with this documentation I hope you will not have to go thru the same hardship I went thru. All necessary screen captures are included in this documentation to make the whole setup project more easy and graphical. I have tried to make this documentation easy for everyone by not using too many heavy grammatic English or FidoNet terminology or jargons. This setup tutorial documentation assumes that you already have your Wildcat! BBS v4.x installed, up and running and that you are familiar with it's operation. This is not a tutorial on how to setup your BBS. A short introduction of myself, I am a hobbyist SysOp operating a Wildcat! BBS running 10 lines of both dial-in and local, all operating under Lantastic Network. At present I am running Frontdoor v2.20c.mL MultiLine Commercial on all the above Nodes. If you need to register FD v2.12 shareware for only $50 or to purchase the commercial Multinode (250 Nodes) version of Frontdoor for only $149 + $7.50 S/H for Sysops ONLY price, you can contact the following USA FD Sales Representative at the following: James Smith Fax: 1 207 990 2293 Online Communications, Inc. Voice Phone: 1 207 941 1110 22 State Street BBS: 1 207 990 3511 Bangor, Maine 04401 FidoNet: 1:132/300 USA 1:132/301 There may be other FD Sales Representative in your country or area. Registration form should be included in your original FD212.ZIP or FD212.ARJ Note: I am not not a Sales reperesentative or anyway involved with Frontdoor sales or tech support. I am just providing you the above information based on the frequently asked questions from those who have used my previous version of this documentation. But I do beleive in registering any used shareware programs. Each program required for this setup should come with it's own respective registration information, if needed, and I encourage you to please register any of the shareware that may be useful to you. Files contained in this archive are as follows: 1. README.TXT --> This file you are reading. Please read this entirely. 2. FD2SETUP.TXT --> Setup documentation for Frontdoor v2.12 3. WM4SETUP.TXT --> Setup documentation for Wildmail v4.x 4. CAT.BAT --> Sample CAT.BAT to start FD and Wildcat! BBS together. 5. EXEBBS.BAT --> A file that FD needed to pass control to Wildcat! BBS. 6. NODEDIFF.BAT --> Batch file to compile Nodediff and Nodelist manualy. 7. EVENT.TXT --> File for FD to display to callers during busy events. 8. FAILED.TXT --> File for FD to send to other Mailer for failed file FREQ. 9. FDNODE.CTL --> File used by FD to dial local/long distance phone calls. 10. ROUTE.FD --> File that tells FD action to take when polling for mails. 11. MAGIC.LST --> File needed by FD for paths to files that can be FREQ. 12. APPLY.TXT --> Sample application to apply for a Node Address. 13. POLICY4.TXT --> Requirement file for all FidoNet Members. Must be read and understood. Please read in full, very informative. 14. SYSMATIC.TXT --> Advertisement file for my board - Systematic BBS. 15. BANNER.TXT --> File will be display by FD as welcome screen to callers. 16. FE2WC.EXE --> Baud rate and error correction translation for FD & WC!4 17. FE2WC.DOC --> Documentation for the above file. Location for each file enclosed in this archives and your other required Programs to complete the whole setup: README.TXT Anywhere you like FD2SETUP.TXT Anywhere you like WM4SETUP.TXT Anywhere you like FD212.ZIP C:\FD EDITNL.EXE C:\FD FE2WC.EXE C:\FD FE2WC.DOC C:\FD PKPAK/PKUNPAK C:\FD CAT.BAT C:\FD EXEBBS.BAT C:\FD NODEDIFF.BAT C:\FD EVENT.TXT C:\FD FAILED.TXT C:\FD ROUTE.FD C:\FD MAGIC.LST C:\FD BANNER.TXT C:\FD FDNODE.CTL C:\FD\NODELIST NODELIST.??? C:\FD\NODELIST --> example filename NODELIST.259 APPLY.TXT Anywhere you like POLICY4.TXT Anywhere you like SYSMATIC.TXT Anywhere you like X00.SYS or X00.EXE Anywhere in the patch as long as it can be loaded. WM40-WC4.ZIP Install Wildmail v4.x into C:\WM40 and it's other required sub-directories as suggested by Wildmail installation procedures. (See WM4SETUP.TXT) Note: Make sure you add C:\FD to your path statement and also add the environment SET FD=C:\FD on a seperate line in your AUTOEXEC.BAT and reboot your computer to activate them. You MUST do this. FidoNet Technology - Network Structure ========================================== FidoNet is the biggest amateur network in the world. It was started in 1984 by Tom Jennings. Currently more than 30,000 nodes worldwide are connected. The network has a hierarchic tree (or star) topology: +------------------------------+------------------->3,4, etc | | Zone 1 (North America) Zone 2 (Europe etc) | | +--------+--------+ +--------+--------+ | | | | | | region region region region region region | | | | | | +--+--+ | +--+--+ +---+---+ | +--+--+ | | | | | | | | | | | net net net net net net net net net net net | +-----+-----+ | | | node node node | +---+---+ | | point point Zones are divided in Regions, which are divided in Nets. The Nets consist of Nodes, which are usually (but not necessarily) Bulletin Board Systems. Each node has a unique address which consists of four parts: Zone, Net, Node and Point, in text form expressed as "Zone:Net/Node.Point" e.g. 1:278/111.0 Zone numbers 1 up to and including 6 are used by FidoNet as see below: 1 = North America (United States of America and Canada) 2 = Europe and Commonwealth of Independent States 3 = Oceania (Australia and New Zealand) 4 = Latin America 5 = Africa 6 = Asia There are several other networks that use FidoNet Technology and which occupy higher zone numbers (such as AfroNet, zones 101) etc. Many nodes have one or more points. A point is a user who gets mail from a node (its "boss") in compressed files. That way they can read and write messages offline, saving time and money. The point address of the boss is 0, but the ".0" is usually omitted from the address. Example for my address: 1:278/111 or 1:278/111.0 Zone = 1 -> USA Net = 278 -> New York City (not entire NY State) This net does not cover entire NY State but only New York City Metro area with area code 212 & 718 There are more Nets in NY State, so there could be more than one Net in your area. Node = 111 -> This is my own personal Node address for my BBS, as Systematic BBS and Sysop: Mufutau Towobola Point= 0 -> I am not a Point, so there is no need to include the 0 at then end if you are not a Point. Most of the time the 0 (zero) is left out if you are not a Point. Mail transportation =================== Electronic mail in a FidoNet Technology Network (FTN) is exchanged using mail packets, which are usually transmitted between two computers by modem. The software responsible for this is called a mailer. The files have the .PKT extension and they can contain one or more messages. There are two types of messages: (1) Netmail (2) Echomail (1) Netmail goes from one node to another node (either directly or routed through other systems). (2) Echomail is copied to all systems which are connected to a particular area (also called conference). The messages are distributed using a special kind of netmail messages, where each message starts with "AREA:" followed by the name of the area, in which certain topic(s) are discussed. Below is an excerpt from FidoNet POLICY 4 which is a requirement to be read by ALL FidoNet Members. POLICY4.TXT is enclosed in this archive, please read it in full. Below details to you, on how to obtain your own Node address. How to obtain a node number You must first obtain a current nodelist so that you can send mail. You do not need a node number to send mail, but you must have one in order for others to send mail to you. The first step in obtaining a current nodelist is to locate a FidoNet bulletin board. Most bulletin board lists include at least a few FidoNet systems, and usually identify them as such. Use a local source to obtain documents because many networks have detailed information available which explains the coverage area of the network and any special requirements or procedures. Once you have a nodelist, you must determine which network or region covers your area. Regions are numbered 1-99; network numbers are greater than 99. Networks are more restricted in area than regions, but are preferred since they improve the flow of mail and provide more services to their members. If you cannot find a network which covers your area, then pick the region which does. Once you have located the network or region in your area, send a message containing a request for a node number to node zero of that network or region. The request must be sent by netmail, as this indicates that your system has FidoNet capability. You must set up your software so that the from-address in your message does not cause problems for the coordinator who receives it. If you pick the address of an existing system, this will cause obvious problems. If your software is capable of using address -1/-1, this is the traditional address used by potential sysops. Otherwise use net/9999 (e.g. if you are applying to net 123, set your system up as 123/9999). Many nets have specific instructions available to potential sysops and these procedures may indicate a preference for the from-address. The message you send must include at least the following information: 1) Your name. 2) Your voice telephone number 3) The name of your system. 4) The city and state where your system is located. 5) The phone number to be used when calling your system. 6) Your hours of operation, netmail and BBS. 7) The maximum baud rate you can support. 8) The type of mailer software and modem you are using. Your coordinator may contact you for additional information. All information submitted will be kept confidential and will not be supplied to anyone except the person who assumes the coordinator position at the resignation of the current coordinator. You must indicate that you have read, and agree to abide by, this document and all the current policies of FidoNet. Please allow at least two weeks for a node number request to be processed. If you send your request to a Regional Coordinator, it may forwarded to the appropriate Network Coordinator. Following are the files required to complete your Frontdoor, Wildcat! BBS and Wildmail for FidoNet setup. 1. Nodelist.??? by FidoNet Network Organization File Name: NODELIST.??? Purpose: Current Nodelist, this is your Fidonet Telephone Dialing Directory, and must be updated every week with Nodediff (NODEFIFF.A??) from your NC or HUB. Note: This file is available on my board as NODELIST.ZIP and it's been updated on weekly basis. It's about 980k in compressed (.ZIP) format, and about 3 Megs uncompressed, so please, do not call with 2400 baud modem to download this file. You should look for the file locally in your area with any BBS that is a memeber of Fidonet. You will need to be obtaining (FREQ) NODEDIFF.A?? every week from your area NC to update your Nodelist to be current. 2. X00 Fossil v1.50 or v1.53a by Raymond L. Gwinn File Name: X00150.ZIP or X00153a.ZIP Purpose: Fossil Driver, required by Frontdoor and must be loaded either in your autoexec.bat or config.sys before Frontdoor can operate. Note: If you will be loading your fossil driver in your autoexec.bat instead of your config.sys, then rename X00.SYS to X00.EXE. Note: If X00 Fossil does not work for you, then you may want to try other fossil driver such as BNU. I have not used BNU or any other type of fossil driver because X00 has been working fine for me over period of years here. 3. Frontdoor v2.12 by Joaquim H. Homrighausen or just AKA as JoHo File Name: FD212.ZIP or FD212.ARJ Purpose: Front End Mailer. Communication Program to link your System to other FidoNet Systems around the world. 4. Wildmail v4.x by Integrated Solutions Inc., File Name: WM40-WC4.ZIP and other related upgrade files to v4.10. Purpose: Wildcat! BBS FTSC FidoNet Compatible Mail Tosser. You need this to program to import and export mails from in and out of your Wildcat! BBS. Get Wildmail v4.x that will ONLY work with Wildcat! v4.x. NOTE: You will also need to call Integrated Solutions Support Board to obtain your 30 days evaluation key for Wildmail v4.x. Your Wildmail not work after this setup without the evaluation key. Look in the documentation for Wildmail for their BBS number and have your Wildcat! BBS registration number ready. Integrated Soulutions BBS is at: (909) 695-6676 5. EditNL v4.0x by Ben Baker File Name: EDITNL.ZIP Purpose: Weekly Nodediff and Nodelist Merger before compilation. This program will take your weekly Nodediff and merge it with your current Nodelist for Frontdoor to compile it as the new updated and recent Nodelist. 6. PKUnpak/PKPak v3.61 by PKWARE Inc. author of PKZip/PKUnzip File Name: PK361.EXE (self-compressed) or PKUNPAK.ZIP Purpose: PKunpak Un-Compressor to de-compress your weekly Nodediff that comes with .ARC compression format. Note: You can also use any un-compressor that can uncompress file with .ARC extension, such as PAK, XARC, PKXARC etc. You need this because your weekly NODEDIFF.A?? and or Netmail will always come in .ARC format. Important Note: If you or your caller will also be writing Netmail (not echomail) online using your Netmail conference, then you will need one of the following FREE Netmail door below: (only one is required) 1. WCFIDO.ZIP - This is a wonderful FREEware Netmail door for Wildcat! v4 written by Scott J. Miller of Programmers Haven 1 BBS at (610) 797-9378 and FidoNet: 1:2607/103 2. WCNETML.ZIP - This is a FREE Netmail door provided by Mustang Inc. for all Wildcat! v4.x Sysops and it's available on MSI HQ BBS at (805) 873-2400 for download. Installation of the above programs will not be covered in this setup but they are very easy and simple to install if you follow their respective enclosed documentation or manual. You will only need one of the above program not both. But you should give WCFIDO your first consideration because of its added features. Latest version of both programs can be found at Mustang HQ BBS. NOTE: You should also try and get as much compressor/uncompressor files as many as you can get, e.g. PKZIP/PKUNZIP, ARJ, ZOO, LHA, LHARC, PAK, PKPKAK/PKUNPAK, etc. because you never know when another Mailer will send you a mail compressed in another format. Put all this archive files in a directory stated in your path statement. Some of the above files might have been updated by their respective authors. You should always obtain the latest copy from the authors to stay current. Most or all of the required files can be found at your nearest local BBS or at Mustang HQ BBS. If you have problem founding any of them, you can call my board and some of the files will be available for your download on your first call, or you should leave me a message for any file that is not available on your first call, and I will make them available for your download on your subsequent call, but you must leave a message. Please do not call for any bigger files with 2400 Baud modem. You can download my ALLFILES.ZIP and look for the required filenames. Before you begin this setup, please do the followings: 1. Add the following to your AUTOEXEC.BAT. SET FD=C:\FD Add the following statement to your PATH statement in AUTOEXEC.BAT PATH=C:\FD; 2. Edit your CONFIG.SYS or AUTOEXEC.BAT to load the Fossil Driver. 3. Reboot your computer for all the above adjustments to be in effect. 4. Create or Make the following directories on your C: drive or any drive you will be using for your installation. Mailer: ------ C:\FD C:\FD\NODELIST C:\FD\NETMAIL C:\FD\FILES C:\FD\PACKETS C:\FD\MSGBASE C:\FD\SWAP Tosser: Wildmail should have created the following directories for you ------ during installation, if they are not created, then create them. C:\WM40 C:\WM40\AREAREQ C:\WM40\ATTACH C:\WM40\BADECHO C:\WM40\DUPES C:\WM40\ECHOLIST C:\WM40\PRETOSS C:\WM40\SWAP Do the following for the files you downloaded: a. Unzip the Frontdoor files (FD212.ZIP) into C:\FD b. Install All Wildmail program files into C:\WM40 c. Unzip EDITNL.ZIP into C:\FD (Only the EDITNL.EXE is needed) d. Put NODELIST.??? (e.g NODELIST.259) in C:\FD\NODELIST e. Unzip the file from PKPAK/PKUNPAK archives program files into any directory in your autoexec.bat path statement, e.g C:\WC40 or C:\FD f. Copy FDNODE.CTL from my archive file to C:\FD\NODELIST and change or edit the 1-718- to the first three letter of your telephone areacode number. NOTE: Take a look at the CAT.BAT enclosed with this archive to make sure all the paths correspond to yours, if not edit to suit your settings. Also there are some SET= enviroment settings at the beginning of the file, this is required for a MultiNode BBS, if you run a Single line board you may not need the following enviroment variablesettings, if that is your case, then you can rem them out. Please replace any enviroment settings with yours, especially the following settings: SET WCNODEID=1 --> this is for the Node in multinode version. SET WCPORTID=1 --> this is for the com port where the modem is attached. SET WCIRQID=4 --> this is the IRQ for the above com port. SET WCBASEID=$3F8 --> this is the base id for the above com port. SET WCMDM=PP-NODE1 --> this is your Modem .MDM file for this Node. SET NODEPATH=C:\WC40\WCWORK\NODE1\ --> this is your Node directory. SET HOMEPATH=C:\WC40\ --> this is your home path for the WC40 files. SET WCHOME=C:\WC40 --> same as above. The following setting must not be removed from the CAT.BAT, they are needed. SET FD=C:\FD Please print the following files and all the enclosed ascii text files included in this archives to make your installations easier: FD2SETUP.TXT --> This documentation covers all the Frontdoor setup. WM4SETUP.TXT --> This documentation covers all Wildmail Setup. After the whole setup is completed, bring up Frontdoor with enclosed CAT.BAT in Frontdoor directory, i.e. C:\FD Note: If you are not using the suggested drive and sub-directories in this documentation, you MUST then edit all batch files or any other required text files included in this documentation that may need modifications. All files included in this archives are all in ascii text formats and you may view and edit them with your favorite ascii text editor. 5. Create the following two conferences in your Wildcat! BBS thru MAKEWILD. The first one is your Netmail Conference and the second one is a sample FidoNet echo mail conference. 旼컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� � Makewild Copyright (c) 1991,94 Mustang Software, Inc. Version 4.0 M10 � �袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴 Editing Conference 袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴� � Conference name : Fido Netmail � � Conference short name : Netmail � � Conference sysop : � � Conference message type : Fido Netmail, private only � � Check for valid name : No � � Maximum number of messages : 200 � 봬컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� � Bulletins path : C:\WC40\BULL\ � � Questionnaires path : C:\WC40\QUES\ � � Menus path : C:\WC40\MENU\ � � Help files path : C:\WC40\HELP\ � � Display files path : C:\WC40\DISP\ � � Message path : C:\WC40\MSG\ � � Message attach path : C:\WC40\MSG\ATTACH\ � 봬 Conference toggle settings 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� � Allow message attachments : Y � � Prompt to kill received attachment : Y � � Allow return receipts : Y � � Prompt to kill received messages : Y � � Allow carbon copies : Y � � Allow high ASCII characters : Y � � Require alias names : N � � Use long address headers : N � � Show CTRL lines in messages : N � 픔컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� � F2 Pick F4 Doors F5 Profiles F7 File Areas F10 Done � 훤袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴� The above is a sample Netmail conference that you should create for your Netmail Conference, you should have ONLY ONE Netmail Conference. 旼컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� � Makewild Copyright (c) 1991,94 Mustang Software, Inc. Version 4.0 M10 � �袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴 Editing Conference 袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴� � Conference name : FD_Wildcat! Sysop [Fido] � � Conference short name : FD_Wildcat � � Conference sysop : � � Conference message type : Normal mail, public and private � � Check for valid name : No � � Maximum number of messages : 300 � 봬컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� � Bulletins path : C:\WC40\BULL\ � � Questionnaires path : C:\WC40\QUES\ � � Menus path : C:\WC40\MENU\ � � Help files path : C:\WC40\HELP\ � � Display files path : C:\WC40\DISP\ � � Message path : C:\WC40\MSG\FIDONET\ � � Message attach path : C:\WC40\MSG\ATTACH\ � 봬 Conference toggle settings 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� � Allow message attachments : N � � Prompt to kill received attachment : N � � Allow return receipts : N � � Prompt to kill received messages : Y � � Allow carbon copies : N � � Allow high ASCII characters : N � � Require alias names : N � � Use long address headers : N � � Show CTRL lines in messages : N � 픔컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� � F2 Pick F4 Doors F5 Profiles F7 File Areas F10 Done � 훤袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴� Above is a sample Echomail conference that you should create for each echomail conference you will be carrying thru Fidonet. You can have as many echomail conferences as you want based on how many you will be echoing. Record number : 1 Match : NONE User ID : 1 [ 1] Name : MUFUTAU TOWOBOLA [18] Zip code : [ 2] From : Bronx, NYC [19] SecLevel : SYSOP [ 3] Phone [V] : [20] ExpDate : / / [ 4] Phone [D] : 718-716-6198 [21] User since: 08/18/94 [ 5] Phone [F] : Age: ?? [22] D.O.B. : / / [ 6] Last call : 09/14/94 8:06pm [23] Memo date : / / [ 7] Comment 1 : [24] # Calls : 999 [ 8] Comment 2 : [25] Page avail: Yes [ 9] Comment 3 : [26] Display : Auto detect [10] Comment 4 : [27] E-prompt : Yes [11] Comment 5 : [28] Hot keys : Yes [12] Company : [29] File disp : Double line [13] Address 1 : [30] Editor : Full Screen [14] Address 2 : [31] Protocol : Zmodem [15] City : -----> [32] N-mail bal: $1,000,000.00 [16] State : -----> [33] Acct bal : $1,000,000.00 [17] Country : [34] Help level: Novice Edit [1..34], [F]ind, [N]ext, [M]atch, [J]ump, [D]elete, [E]xtra, [X] New Pwrd, [U]ser Mail, [C]onf, [P]rev, [W]rite, [H]elp, [S]earch, [A]dd, [Q]uit? Name MUFUTAU TOWOBOLA, Bronx, NYC Age ?? File SYSOP9.BBS Node 3 Baud Local Time 998 Sec SYSOP 쿖ey쿛rn쿛ag쿍el쿎ap� After you have finished with the conference creation, log on to your board locally or use WCPro (if you have any) to give yourself a Netmail amount and Netmail Balance as seen on items #32 and #33 with arrows above, make sure you only give this balances to your Account (SYSOP) ONLY or those that you will authorize to send Netmails (not echomail) from your board. Note: It is wise to only give yourself access to this Netmail conference. Note: After you have finished all the setup in all this documentations, you you will need to send a Netmail from inside Frontdoor to your FidoNet Area NC (Network Co-Ordinator) and request for a Node address. A sample file called APPLY.TXT has been enclosed in this archive that can be used to request an address, don't forget to change the address on it from 1:278/0 to your own area FidoNet Network Co-Ordinator Number. Information or procedure on how to send Netmail message to your NC is included in the "Frequently Asked Questions" in the pages to come. Most Frequently Asked Questions and Answers =========================================== Question: Is FidoNet Network FREE? Answer: YES. Totally FREE. That means you should not pay any money for anything concerning Fidonet like obtaining a Node address etc. Question: How do I know which FidoNet Network (Net) serves my area? Answer: There are many Fidonet Network (Net) addresses in USA and the world, so this will be based on your geographical location. The best way to found out is to call any BBS in your area that belongs to FidoNet for the Net that serves your area. Any FidoNet member BBS should give you this information. Just ask him with courtesy and tell him you also run a BBS and wants to join FidoNet and I am sure he will be glad to tell you. Question: How do I send Netmail to my Network Co-Ordinator (NC) when I finished setting up my Mailer to apply for Node address? Answer: First, you must completely setup your Mailer e.g. Frontdoor and make sure is operational and ready to receive calls. Then bring up your Frontdoor by means of CAT.BAT, at the FD "Waiting for Caller" screen, follow the step by step below: Make sure you have completed the file APPLY.TXT before you actually start this process: (1) Press ALT+E and that will execute Frontdoor Message Editor. (2) Press INS (Insert) Key, or ALT+M for pop-up Menu (3) In line To: type your NC address here, e.g. 1:278/0 (4) In line Re: type NEW NODE APPLICATION here and press enter key Note that the next line under should say: Pvt Crash Local Direct (5) Press ALT+F2 key to import your APPLY.TXT as a message (6) Type the path and filename e.g. C:\FD\APPLY.TXT and press enter (7) Save the message by pressing CTRL+Z (8) Press ALT+Q (or press ALT+M for menu and select Leave Editor) to exit after saving the message. As soon as you leave the editor and FD reloads, in about five seconds it should be calling your NC to send him the message immediately, called Crash in Fido terminology. Sample message capture below is for your reference only: 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴 1:278/9999 7:56p NetMail folder New message Cost: 0 By: Mufutau Towobola To: Michael Stewart, NYCnet Network Coordinator (1:278/0) Re: New Node Application St: Pvt Crash Local Direct 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴 To: Net Coordinator 1:278/0 Subject: Application for Net/Node ID I wish to participate in FidoNet and Net 278). Please consider this as my request for a Net/Node ID in FidoNet. I have read and understand FidoNet's Policy document (POLICY4.TXT). I agree to abide by the policy and rules spelled out in these documents. Here is the information required for registration in the Network. 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴 EDIT to save Line: 1 Col: 1 Insert Question: How do I know who will be my echomail HUB? Answer: First, you must completely setup your Mailer e.g. Frontdoor and make sure is operational and ready to receive calls, then obtain a Node address, then you send a Netmail using the above method to your NC and inquire from him who will be your echomail HUB. Question: Are FidoNet Network Echomails FREE? Answer: YES and NO. Yes, you are not supposed to pay for it. NO, because some areas participates in what is called "COST SHARING" which means they share the cost of telephone bills to transfer the echomails from their regional HUB. The cost is minimal, and could sometimes be around $5 for three to six months. And in some area where you have a generous NEC (Network Echomail Co-Ordinator) the cost can be totally FREE. By perticipating in a "Cost Sharing" plan does not mean that you are paying for the echos. So now you can see why I say YES and NO. But generally the echomails are FREE. Question: Do I need to carry FidoNet echomail to be a FidoNet Member? Answer: NO. Some FidoNet members just obtain Node address to transact business in FidoNet format. But generally you are encouraged to perticipates in echomail because of added limitless advantages. Imagine your message being read all over the world. So please perticipates in echomail distribution. Question: Do I need to be a BBS Sysop to become a FidoNet Member? Answer: NO. Some FidoNet members just obtain Node address to transact business in FidoNet format. You do not have to run a BBS to be a member of FidoNet or to even obtain the echomails. Every individual, who reads and understand the Policy4.TXT and agree to abide by Fidonet rules can be a member of Fidonet. But you must run a FidoNet compatible Mailer, mail tosser and or mail reader and obtain a Node address from your local area NC, or obtain a point address from a friend who will be your Boss. You do not have to run your Mailer 24 hours if you are not a BBS Sysop, but your mailer MUST be up and running for one hour daily during the required FidoNet ZONE MAIL HOUR in your demographic region. You do not have to observe the required Zone Mail Hour if you are a Point (see definiton of Point below). So advise or encourage some of your Non-Sysop friends to join. Question: What is a Point? Answer: Many nodes have one or more points. A point is a user who gets mail from a node (its "Boss") in a FidoNet format. That way they can read and write messages offline, saving time and money. The point address of the boss is 0, but the ".0" is usually omitted from the address. If you are a Point 30 from my Node address, then your own address will be: 1:278/111.30 Question: How do I send an AREAFIX to my HUB to request my echos? Answer: See the detailed answer below: After you have obtained your Node address and you have configure your Mail tosser e.g. Wildmail, Hypermail!, GoMail, Interecho, you will need to found out from your NC who will be your HUB, as stated in the "Frequently asked Questions and Answers". Then you will need to obtain an AREAFIX Password from the HUB, then you will have to send a Netmail to AREAFIX to turn ON or OFF the echos that you will want. The procedures are analyzed below and you should seek more help from your HUB if you need it, but below I have tried my best to cover the whole parts needed to request your echos thru AREAFIX from your HUB. Your HUB will instruct you when to send the AREAFIX message to him. Below is the procedure needed to send Netmail to your HUB for Areafix: (1) Press ALT+E and that will execute Frontdoor Message Editor. (2) Press INS (Insert) Key, or ALT+M for pop-up Menu (3) In line To: type your AREAFIX and another box will pop for address (3a) Then type HUB address here, e.g. 1:278/1000 in the box. (4) In line Re: type your Areafix Password here: e.g. PASSWORD -L -Q This should be the Areafix Password given to you by your HUB. and you should put -L -Q separated by a blank space. Note that the next line under should say: Pvt Crash Local Direct (5) Go to the body of the message to type the conferences required, (see below for this) this are the echo tagname from e.g. FIDONET.NA (6) Save the message by pressing CTRL+Z (7) Press ALT+Q (or press ALT+M for menu and select Leave Editor) to exit after saving the message. As soon as you leave the editor and FD reloads, in about five seconds it should be calling your NC to send him the message immediately, called Crash in Fido terminology. Sample message capture below is for your reference only: 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴 1:278/9999 7:56p NetMail folder New message Cost: 0 By: Mufutau Towobola To: AREAFIX, NYCnet Echomail Coordinator (1:278/1000) Re: PASSWORD -L -Q St: Pvt Crash Local Direct 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴 +WILDCAT +TRIBBS_SUPPORT +FDECHO +INTERMAIL +FOR-SALE +SYS4SALE -CDROM -CDROM_SALE -BBS_ADS -SYSOP --- 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴 EDIT to save Line: 1 Col: 1 Insert Note: Looking at the above sample message body text, you will put each echo tagname on it's own separate line preceded with a plus sign (+) for all the echos you want to request e.g. +WILDCAT (as seen in our example message above), this will turn ON the echo for WILDCAT for you at your HUB side. If you need to turn OFF any echos that you have previously requested, you will put a minus sign (-) or hyphen before the echo tagname e.g. -CDROM (as seen in our example message above), this will turn OFF the echo for CDROM for you at your HUB side.. The last line MUST always contain three minus sign or hyphen (---), this is called tearline to tell Areafix that this is the end of this request message and anything under it should be ignored, normally you will not put anything beyond this line. After the Areafix Password you should also put -L -Q as stated above which means the following: -L This switch will instruct AREAFIX to attach a list of available echos to a message and send it to you from your HUB. -Q This switch will instruct AREAFIX to send you a list of all active areas you have requested and participating from this HUB. Question: Please help, my errorlevels will not run or execute, even though I have check them several times: Answer: When you are defining your errorlevels they must be in a descending order, that means the line that execute errorlevel 255 must come before the line that execute errorlevel 200. This is the rules of DOS when defining errorlevels in a batch file. See the examples below for the right and wrong formats of defining the errorlevels as taken from the CAT.BAT enclosed in this file. Make sure your errorlevel are properly defined or they will not run. This is the right way: This is the wrong way: ---------------------- --------------------- IF ERRORLEVEL 255 goto aftermail IF ERRORLEVEL 70 goto maintenance IF ERRORLEVEL 200 goto run-bbs IF ERRORLEVEL 255 goto aftermail IF ERRORLEVEL 70 goto maintenance IF ERRORLEVEL 60 goto local-bbs IF ERRORLEVEL 60 goto local-bbs IF ERRORLEVEL 200 goto run-bbs IF ERRORLEVEL 1 goto end IF ERRORLEVEL 0 goto end IF ERRORLEVEL 0 goto end IF ERRORLEVEL 1 goto end Special thanks goes to the following fellow Sysops: Eddie Hicks: Online in D'Hood BBS, Pleasantville, NJ (609) 645-7080 TriBBS MultiNode. FidoNet: 1:2623/65 AfroNet: 101:13/118 Thanks for your help in testing and debugging the TriBBS version of this documentation and various useful suggestions to make it better. Lawrence Gordon: Sysop of Toast House, St. Louis, MO at (314) 994-0312 Wildcat! BBS & TriBBS MultiNode. FidoNet: 1:100/560 Lawrence is a fine programmer who has written many FREEWARE programs for Wildcat! and TriBBS BBS to perform many simple and important tasks. Thanks for sharing your knowledge FREE with other Sysops including myself. Look for all of Lawrence Gordon's FREEWARE programs at MSI HQ BBS. The baud rate and error correction translating utility program (FE2WC.EXE) enclosed in this archive is with the permission of the author Lawrence Gordon. Thanks for your help, it's been nice working with you on this. Michael Conley: Charlatan's Cabin BBS, a Wildcat! BBS at (213) 654-7337 Thanks for sharing your programming experience with us, the Wildcat! Sysops. All your FREEWARE or Charity-ware programs are well appreciated by all Sysops and thanks for your efforts and contribution. Look for many and all of Michael Conley's FREEWARE programs at MSI HQ BBS. Scott J. Miller: Programmers Haven 1 BBS, a Wildcat! BBS at (610) 797-9378 FidoNet: 1:2607/103 Thanks for providing the Wildcat! v4.x Sysops your timely WCFIDO (FREEWARE) Netmail Door program required by WC! v4.x for writing Netmail message online, when this door was dearly needed by the Sysops. God bless. Also, not to leave out ALL other Programmers who have in their own way contributed to making life easier for Sysops by giving us good FREEWARE or PAID programs. We could not have had Sysoping life easy without your help, because we could not leave every little utilities to the BBS authors. I can be reached at the following Locations and Message Networks: 1. Systematic BBS (718) 716-6198 and (718) 716-6341 2. FidoNet 1:278/111 AfroNet: 101:13/106 3. RIME - RelayNet(tm) Node# 5210 or SYSTEMATIC 4. Intelec Network 5. *Prowl* / WDNet 6. SmartNet 7. ThrobNet 8. CatNet 9. AfroNet I monitor many conferences from the above Networks especially Wildcat!, Sysops, and TriBBS conference. Note: This documentation is not to teach you about batch file programming, Wildcat! BBS setup or MS-DOS tutorial. So, if you have no knowledge of how batch files or DOS operating system works, then you should not even be looking at installing FidoNet related programs. Mufutau Towobola P.O. Box 860 Bronx, NY 10468 USA. FOSSIL DRIVERS ============== Now a little lesson about fossil drivers. You must load a fossil driver before you load Frontdoor. Again, Frontdoor will not load without detecting a fossil driver loaded and it will bark at you when it does not detect one. So I have decided to include a small lesson below: I use X00.SYS Fossil Driver and loaded in my CONFIG.SYS, if you need to load your fossil driver in your AUTOEXEC.BAT then rename the X00.SYS to X00.EXE. Loading your fossil in CONFIG.SYS or AUTOEXEC.BAT will function same way. Possible COM PORTS combination command loading of X00 fossil driver has been provided below for standard com ports only. Read your Fossil driver documentation for more information. ============== 1 ============= Use the following command line in your CONFIG.SYS if you have 2 High Speed Modems attached to COM1 and COM2 respectively and to lock your fossil and modems at 38400. If you are locking your board and fossil driver higher or lower then please replace the 38400 with your correct baud rate. DEVICE=X00.SYS E 2 B,0,38400 F=15 T=1024 R=1024 B,1,38400 F=15 T=1024 R=1024 =============== 2 ============ Use the following command line in your CONFIG.SYS if you have 1 High Speed Modems attached to COM1 and to lock your fossil & modem at 38400. If you are locking your board and fossil driver higher or lower then please replace the 38400 with your correct baud rate. DEVICE=X00.SYS E 1 B,0,38400 F=15 T=1024 R=1024 ============ 3 ============= Use the following command line in your CONFIG.SYS if you have 1 High Speed Modems attached to COM2 and to lock your fossil & modem at 38400. If you are locking your board and fossil driver higher or lower then please replace the 38400 with your correct baud rate. DEVICE=X00.SYS E 1 B,1,38400 F=15 T=1024 R=1024 ============== 4 ============ Use the following command line in your CONFIG.SYS if you have 2 High Speed Modems attached to COM1 and COM2 respectively and to lock your fossil and modems at 19200. If you are locking your board and fossil driver higher or lower then please replace the 19200 with your correct baud rate. DEVICE=X00.SYS E 2 B,0,19200 F=15 T=1024 R=1024 B,1,19200 F=15 T=1024 R=1024 =========== 5 ============ Use the following command line in your CONFIG.SYS if you have 1 High Speed Modems attached to COM1 and to lock your fossil & modem at 19200. If you are locking your board and fossil driver higher or lower then please replace the 19200 with your correct baud rate. DEVICE=X00.SYS E 1 B,0,19200 F=15 T=1024 R=1024 =========== 6 ============ Use the following command line in your CONFIG.SYS if you have 1 High Speed Modems attached to COM2 and to lock your fossil & modem at 19200. If you are locking your board and fossil driver higher or lower then please replace the 19200 with your correct baud rate. DEVICE=X00.SYS E 1 B,1,19200 F=15 T=1024 R=1024 ========== 7 ============= If you are only using a 2400 baud Modem then your command line will just be simply the following: (No need to lock your fossil for 2400 baud rate) DEVICE=X00.SYS E ========== 8 =========== If you are only using two 2400 baud Modems on COM1 and COM2 respectively then your command line will just be simply the following: (No need to lock your fossil for 2400 baud rate) DEVICE=X00.SYS E 2 ================================================== Please look in your X00 Fossil Driver Documentation for more details. Loading of the fossil driver for non-standard com ports can be found in the fossil driver documentations. X00.SYS and X00.EXE is a product of Raymond L. Gwinn If you are having trouble running X00 Fossil on your computer, then you may want to try another fossil driver like BNU. If you are or will be using BNU Fossil driver, then look in the BNU documentation for the proper command line to load it, as I have never used BNU personally. Use the one that best worked for you. Note: When using the new high speed 28.8k (28,800) modems, do not lock your fossil driver at 19200, instead you should lock it at 38400 or higher. If you lock your fossil at 19200 for these modems, you will not be able to connect to another 28.8k (28,800) modems at any baud rate higher than 19200. So be warned, and lock your fossil appropriately. For 28.8k modems, lock your fossil at 38,400 or higher as seen fit. Also don't forget to change your BBS locked baud rate to match your locked fossil baud rate. And remember if you lock your BBS and or fossil driver at any rate higher than 38400, some of your installed doors may not work anymore because some doors are unable to handle any locked port higher than 38400. I recommend 38400 for both 14.4k and 28.8k modems. The decison is yours, you know what you have on your board better than I do, right? Program Acknowledgements goes to the following: Wildcat! BBS - Mustang Software Inc. Frontdoor - Joaquim H. Homrighausen and Advanced Engineering. Wildmail - Integrated Solutions Inc., (Joe Martin) X00 Fossil - Raymond L. Gwinn EditNL - Ben Baker FidoNet - Tom Jennings PKUnpak/PKpak - PKWare Inc. PKZip/PKUnzip - PKWare Inc. WCFIDO - Scott J. Miller FE2WC - Lawrence Gordon Note: No authorization is obtained from any of the above authors for use or mentioning of their programs in this documentation. But I feel instead of them worrying about suing me, they should be thanking me for spreading useful information about their respective programs. Since I am not providing any harmful information about their program to anyone, what should I worry about? :) This is the Release History File explaining changes in each version. April 1, 1994 - v1.0 - Official release of FDWCWM10.ZIP the Frontdoor v2.02, Wildmail v3.10 and Wildcat! v3.9x and other related utilities with FidoNet setup. Filename: FDWCWM10.ZIP June 12, 1994 - v1.2 - Official release of FDWCWM12.ZIP the Frontdoor v2.02, Wildmail v3.11 and Wildcat! v3.9x and other related utilities with FidoNet setup. Background grahics eliminated for better printing for people with dot-matrix printers. Support for new release of Wildmail v3.11. Filename: FDWCWM12.ZIP November 17, 1994 - v2.0 - Official major release of FDWCWM20.ZIP the new Frontdoor v2.12 to support the new various 28.8k modems info, new Wildmail v4.x and new Wildcat! v4.x and other related utilities with FidoNet setup. Re-write of the whole full documentation and added support for adding other Private Network Nodelist and setup info for Wildmail. Filename: FDWCWM20.ZIP The Sysop of the following boards have volunteered to be a distributing site of this or earlier and future documentations. If you will like to join the group, please let me know, and you should make the files available for download to even the first time callers to your board. Thank you. In USA: ------- Aquarius BBS Shadowgate BBS BBS# (612) 636-9174 BBS# (815) 622-9637 (612) 636-9012 Sysop: Tony Harrison Sysop: Tim McGarry The OS/2 Guru for WC!4 FidoNet: 1:282/4072 FidoNet: 1:2210/9639 In Ontario, Canada: ------------------- Ambassador Board (login as: *NEW USER Password: ACCESS) BBS# (519) 925-2642 (519) 925-0724 (519) 925-0024 Sysop: Steve Henry List of available documentations: --------------------------------- FDWCWM12.ZIP - Setup for Frontdoor v2.02, WildMail v3.1x and Wildcat! v3.9x FDTRGE12.ZIP - Setup for Frontdoor v2.02, GEcho v1.x, and TriBBS FDWCHM10.ZIP - Setup for Frontdoor v2.12, HyperMail! v1.x and Wildcat! v4.x IMWCHM10.ZIP - Setup for InterMail v2.29, HyperMail! v1.x and Wildcat! v4.x FDWCWM20.ZIP - Setup for Frontdoor v2.12, WildMail v4.1x and Wildcat! v4.x IMWCWM10.ZIP - Setup for InterMail v2.29, WildMail v4.1x and Wildcat! v4.x Coming soon to a BBS near you: (No specific date.) -------------------------------------------------- FDWCGM10.ZIP - Setup for Frontdoor v2.12, GoMail v2.x and Wildcat! v4.x IMWCGM10.ZIP - Setup for InterMail v2.29, GoMail v2.x and Wildcat! v4.x FDTRTT10.ZIP - Setup for Frontdoor v2.12, TriToss v1.x, and TriBBS God Bless. Praise be to Allah. -------- end --------