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 August 1995 º ³ º Compliments of BUFFALO CREEK SOFTWARE º ³ º Buffalo Creek's BBS * 515-225-8496 º ³ º 28800 through 1200 Bps º ³ º 2 Nodes º ³ º º ³ ÈÍÑÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͼ ³ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ Edited by Jacque Shipley The Mother Board BBS - (515) 986-3464 - 57600 Bps Sysop Of The Month by Walt Crede Roam This Fertile Land - (515) 288-8755 - 14400 Bps Newly Registered SPITFIRE BBS List by Ann Woltz Other Contributions As Noted ÉÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ» º Notes from the author of SPITFIRE! ÇÄ¿ ÈÍÑÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͼ ³ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ Let's finish SPITFIRE v3.51 --------------------------- The time has come and gone when SPITFIRE v3.51 should have been finished and released. There are basically just a couple of more things which I want to change/add to SPITFIRE v3.51 before it is released. Thus, I would like to expand the SPITFIRE v3.51 test team. In the event you would like to test SPITFIRE v3.51 during the last part of development, then please leave me a message on Buffalo Creek's BBS. Being part of the test team is hard work when it is performed correctly. Some people think that beta testing software provides the 'right' to suggest (or demand) certain changes/additions. Not so. Testing is testing. Testing is hard work when it is performed correctly. Each change/addition has to be completely tested. Some people think that a report is only necessary when something doesn't work right. Not so. A report of your test results have to be made. How would I know when things work correctly if positive reports are not made. The expansion of the SPITFIRE v3.51 test team will be made on the first come/first serve basis. Additionally, we need to have the SPITFIRE v3.51 documentation proof-read. In the event you are willing to perform such proof-reading, then please contact Jacque Shipley. SPITFIRE v3.51 will be released once the final changes/additions are made to SPITFIRE v3.51 and properly tested. Thank you for you help. Until next time, smile on your brother, everybody get together and try to love one another. Best wishes... Mike Woltz ÉÍÍ[ I Peter 3:9 ]ÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ» º Not rendering evil for evil, or railing ÇÄ¿ º for railing, but on the contrary, º ³ º blessing, knowing that ye are called º ³ º to this, that ye should inherit a º ³ º blessing. º ³ ÈÍÑÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͼ ³ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ ÕÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ͸ ³ RUNNING SPITFIRE IN WINDOWS 95 ³ ÔÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ; Never has the pending release of a software product been promoted so intensely. Computer users across the country, in fact, across the world, waited with great anticipation for the arrival of August 24th and the release of Windows 95. Undoubtedly, there are SPITFIRE Sysops who will want to run SPITFIRE with Windows 95. Mark Pospisil, Sysop of Popsicle's Place, has been gracious enough to put together a help file to assist other SPITFIRE Sysops with the setup information necessary for running SPITFIRE in Windows 95. This file is written to assist in some settings that may be helpful in establishing a SPITFIRE BBS running Windows 95. It is not meant to supersede either the SPITFIRE documentation or the Windows help files. It is being written to provide assistance only. I hope it will be of some use. Ok let's see if we can get started. First you need Windows 95 loaded on your machine otherwise nothing I'm about to tell you will help at all. The second thing you need to be aware of is every time you make a change to the way a program runs under Windows 95, it will have the same abilities or disabilities the next time you run that program. For most things you do in Win95, there are two or more ways to get to the same place. I am going to attempt to get you where you need to go via the shortest route. You should be reading this document from a DOS windows or Windows notepad or Write. Any of these will do the trick. From the desktop, you should have some icons on the desktop already. This document should be in a window so that you may read and do things at the same time. 1. Double Click on the icon that says "My Computer". This should give you a window with representations of all your drives, network connections, CD drives and floppies drives that you have on your machine. At the bottom of that screen you should see an icon that says "Control Panel". 2. Double Click on the "Control Panel" Icon. Now. close My Computer group by clicking on the X box at the top right corner. Inside Control panel there is an icon that says "System" at the bottom of that group. 3. Double Click on the "System" Icon. Now, close Control Panel by clicking the X at the top right corner. You should have a panel showing a monitor and describing your computer. At the top you should have what look like file folder tabs. Click the one that says "Device Manager". This should give you a screen that shows all the components of your computer. Near the bottom of that list you should see a place that says Ports (COM&LPT). Click on the small box with the X in it that is in front of ports. That will extend the list of ports to show all the COM and LPT ports you have installed on your machine. 4. Double Click on the port your modem is installed on. This will give you another folder describing your port. At the top of the folder you should see the tab marked "Port Settings". 5. Click the "Port settings" tab. Here you can adjust your port speed settings. Bits per second, data bits, parity, stop bits, and flow control. A. Bits per second _____________ for a 14.4 modem use 19200 for a 28.8 modem use 38400 some programs may be unpredictable if you have your port speed set too high. Not to mention, if you are using a fossil driver, it will cut back your port speed to what you specify there anyway. B. Data bits 8 C. Parity None D. Stop bits 1 E. Flow Control ________________ if you have a hardware error correcting modem set it to Hardware otherwise set it to Software. "Don't use NONE!" SPITFIRE may start doing strange things. At the bottom of the screen you have a button that says "Advanced". 6. Click the "Advanced" button. At the top left of the Advanced Port Settings there is a box that is in front of the sentence: Use FIFO buffers (requires 16550 compatible Uart) A. If you have a hardware error correcting modem check this box. If you do not have a hardware error correcting modem skip to D. B. Receive Buffer move this to High (14) C. Transmit Buffer move this to High (16) D. Click OK 7. At The bottom of the Port Setting page there is an OK button. Click on it. At the bottom of System Properties there is an OK button. Click on it. Whew, the first part is done. Time for a smoke and a cup of coffee. Ok, times up. Time to go back to work. I am going to go through this next part as if you have not run a BBS under Windows in the past so experience users bare with me. On the bottom left corner of your screen you should see a button with the Windows flag that says START. 1. Click On Start. This will give you a list of things currently available to work with that are setup on your machine. You should see an icon that says settings. 2. Highlight "Settings". This will open another box with three other icons. One of these will say Task Bar. 3. Double Click on "Task Bar". This will open a folder that has two tabs at the top. One says "Start Menu Programs". 4. Click on "Start Menu Programs". This folder has three buttons. One of these say "Add". 5. Click on "Add". You should have a box where you can put the name of the program or use the browse button. Type the full path to and the name of your SPITFIRE batch file, ie., C:\SF\SF.BAT in the box. This should enable the button on the bottom of that page saying "Next". 6. Click "Next". This will give you a listing of all the program folders on your taskbar find the one that says "Startup". If a Startup folder does not exist you can create it by clicking on the button that says "New Folder". When it gives you a box to enter the name of the group type in "StartUp". The new folder will be added to the startup menu. When you hit the button that says Next, it will automatically put SPITFIRE in the program name box. The "Finish" button will appear at the bottom of the folder. Click on "Finish". The next time Win95 starts, any program in the startup folder will automatically run. 7. Click On the "Startup" folder. This will add SPITFIRE to the startup folder. You will see a button that says "Finish". 8. Click "Finish". Now that SPITFIRE is on the menu we can make a few more minor adjustments. 1. Click the "Start" button. 2. Go to the "Programs" icon on the start menu. 3. Go to the "StartUp" selection on the menu. "SPITFIRE" will show up in the last bar. 4. Double click on "SPITFIRE" to start the program. At this point SPITFIRE should initialize in a DOS window. Using a mouse and clicking the top left corner on the SPITFIRE window will give you the program pull down menu. At the bottom of the menu you will see a line that says Properties. 5. Click on "Properties". This will give you a multi page folder. The first page gives the paths to SPITFIRE and the name of the batch file. Towards the bottom of the first screen there is a box that says Close on exit. A. Check the Close on exit box. B. There is an Advanced button on this first screen. Click on Advanced. C. Suggest MS-DOS mode as necessary should be checked. Click OK. You can change the icon from here if you wish. At the top of the folder you should see a tab that says "Memory". D. Click on the "Memory" Tab. This will give you a page with four areas. 1. Conventional memory. Total leave at Auto environment leave at Auto add a check to the Protect box. 2. Expanded (EMS) memory. Don't make any changes. 3. Extended (XMS) memory. Should be set to None since SPITFIRE doesn't use it. 4. MS-DOS protected-mode (DPMI) memory. Leave this set to Auto. At the the top of the folder there is a tab that says "Misc". E. Click on "Misc". This will give you a screen with eight options. Be careful in this area as you can adversely effect the operation of SPITFIRE in this screen. 1. Foreground Operation. Remove check from allow Screen Saver. Windows screen savers will keep SPITFIRE from answering calls. 2. Background. Remove check from always suspend. If you don't remove this check SPITFIRE will lock anytime it is not on top. 3. Idle Sensitivity. Put the slide bar all the way to the left at "Low". This will give SPITFIRE the clock cycles it need to continue working properly even in the background. 4. In the Mouse area you have two blocks. a. Quick Edit. Take the check off. Windows editors don't work on SPITFIRE. b. Exclusive Mode. Take the check mark off here. SPITFIRE doesn't use a mouse. 5. Termination "Warn if still active" should be checked. If we try to click on the X box on the top right corner of the DOS Window you will be told that SPITFIRE is still active and ask if you are sure you want to terminate the program and to do so may risk losing important data. 6. Other. "Fast Paste", remove the check. There is nothing in SPITFIRE we need to copy to the Windows Clipboard. 7. Windows Shortcut Keys. The only one we need checked is "Alt+Enter". This is how we switch SPITFIRE from a DOS Window to full screen. If you remove this check mark you will end up putting SPITFIRE full screen and not be able to get it back to a window so you can do other things without shutting down SPITFIRE. At the bottom of the folder page there is a button that says Apply. 8. Click Apply. This will close the properties @applet. Congratulations you have you have successfully completed your mission of setting the properties required to run SPITFIRE with Windows 95. I hope this has been of some help. If you need additional assistance in setting up SPITFIRE and Win 95 I will be more than happy to share my limited experience with this endeavor. You are more than welcome to contact me Mon. through Fri. 6:30 PM until 11:00 PM, Sat. Sun. and Holidays 07:30 AM until 11:30 PM at: Popsicle's Place BBS Node 1 (817)-690-3865 Node 2 (817)-690-3294 SFNet Node A0817000 Mark Pospisil Or Voice (817)-690-2496 If you find any further information or better setting please pass the information along to me. I'm trying to collect as many helpful hints as possible for other SPITFIRE sysops. Thank you for taking the time to read this and I hope it has been of some help. Popsicle SFNet Windows Moderator. Running Windows 95. ÕÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ͸ ³ SPITFIRE BOARD-OF-THE-MONTH ³ ÔÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ; Gary Henry The Skeletons Closet 501-933-2027 SFNet A0501000 Imagine my surprise as I logged on to the BBS one day to check my messages. There it was, a message from Jacque saying I had been chosen as a SPITFIRE board of the month. Amazing! Incredible! What have I done to deserve such an honor? I have only been fooling around with IBM computers for about three years, and only had a board up for about six months! It's certainly been an interestingly busy six months. Anyway, I've been dealing with computers for about 14 years. I am 26 years old now, but I still remember the first computer I ever had was an old Atari 800XL. I guess the first one I ever played around with was a TI. Man, not a whole lot to those babies back then. As I got more interested, I moved up to an Atari 520 ST. Man, I really thought I had some power there. 512K of memory. Man, I'd surely never need more than that at my disposal. But as games got bigger and better, it seemed Atari stuff got less and less popular. I opted for a change. So, I got my Uncle to work a deal with me on a wonderful 286. 40 meg hd, 12 MHZ of blazing speed. I was really moving now. I then started to fiddle around with this modem thing inside. Discovered what really cool things you could do with the computer and just your fingertips. I spent many a late night playing games and posting messages in conferences that reached all over the world. This is the coolest thing in the world, I thought to myself. After conquering a few games, and downloading a few hundred megs of files, I thought, "It'd be really neat if I could get one of these BBS's all for myself." So, out of the ten or so boards in my area, it seemed Remote Access was the BBS software of choice. I downloaded it and gave it a whirl. Some of the stranger things to get working (aside from mailers and Usurper) was this darn BBS stuff. Remote Access took on a whole new meaning for me. It came to mean that I had a remote chance of accessing this BBS software and getting it running right. So, after a few weeks I scrapped it and decided maybe running a board wasn't for me. Then, one day I decided I was tougher to lick than that, so I thought I'd give it a whirl one more time. But, I decided on a new twist. Try something no one else was using at the time. I began searching for BBS software and bingo! There it was. SPITFIRE! Sounded like a good program to me, so I downloaded the files and tried it out. It was truly amazing, the ease of setting it up and the documentation. It was almost like getting one of those inflatable life rafts and pulling the deal and BAM! There it was, ready for action! I was truly awestruck. No weeks worth of reading to figure out the mundane documents. It was basically ready to go. I was truly impressed. Now, six months later I have a wonderful message system (without the muss or fuss of any greek written mailers) that has a great little QWK compatible dude for all the mailing duties (I liked it so much I decided to become the area code hub), several door games that run wonderfully, and several happy users that make sure to call every day! Needless to say Mike Woltz helped me with any and every problem I had with the utmost of courtesy and friendliness, as well as his family (His wife even gave me a number to reach him out of town, where he was teaching). And not to mention the whole other group of SPITFIRE Sysops helping me out on SFNET just mere days after I posted. One in particular, Mark Pospisil, even went so far as to waste part of his evening to help me with my windows woes. Thanks Mark and all who posted to me to help out! Needless to say, I am very satisfied and get a great deal of enjoyment out every minute of this software. Keep up the great work Mike and all the others who write the 3rd party files to help out and make SPITFIRE the BEST software there is around. Take care, God Bless, and Keep on Spittin' Fire! ÕÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ͸ ³ SPITFIRE SYSOP-OF-THE-MONTH ³ ÔÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ; Jereomy Frum The NIAS Network BBS 402-496-1785 The NIAS Network started sometime early February 1991. My grandparents told me they would purchase a computer for me after I finished trade school. I ended up with an Epson 386SX with a 100 meg Conner drive and 2 megs of ram. In those days that was a pretty nice system. I started with some other brand of software ( I won't mention any names) and quickly switched over to SPITFIRE because the first brand wanted money for every little feature. There were many people involved in getting NIAS off the ground. Most have come and gone but they will always be remembered. Many people have also asked me what NIAS stood for. I have a different reply each time. On one occasion I asked the user base what they thought NIAS stood for. The best response was "o dea sk ysop. All of the results are posted on the BBS for all to see. Actually NIAS was just a nickname I had many moons ago in elementary school. There is a story behind it but it isn't important now. NIAS is owned by myself but pretty much operated by the user base. Many of the doors are operated by users who have donated them to the BBS. The users often have a better feel on how a door should be run and it keeps them involved. Many of the decisions made for NIAS are made by a popular vote of the user base. There are very few complaints that way. Automation is a must for somebody who is as busy as I am. There are times when I can not get to the BBS for a week. The hard drives are compressed weekly in the middle of the night, the mail runs start just after midnight and the BBS starts talking if it has any troubles with the modem. If I go on vacation it is nice to know that I can play a mod file to clap the lights on and clap the lights off every night. At one point NIAS beeped me on my digital pager on certain occasions (the mail run was stuck or a particular user was on-line). Today NIAS is running on the exact same system as when it started. I have added items to it here and there but it is pretty much the same setup. Later this year I will start networking with a Pentium (now accepting bids) that will have plenty of hard drive space and more memory than I do. I will eventually add a second node (and who knows maybe even a third one) hopefully by Christmas. NIAS is still a free BBS and I plan to stay that way. I do have problems turning down donations so I accept these now. Most of my friends, my knowledge of PC's and even my job are a result of NIAS. I do not think my grandparents had this kind of usage in mind for the computer they bought me but when you stop and think about it, I have come along way and I never forget where I have been and how I got there. Thanks Mike! The next time you are passing through at least honk. 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: The Forty Two BBS.............................916-348-3067...14400 BPS Jeff Betz, Sysop...........................North Highlands, California "EDESIGN".....................................216-992-1660...14400 BPS Edward Dana, Sysop.....................................Ashtabula, Ohio Red Dust BBS..................................913-599-0194...14400 BPS James Blakeslee II, Sysop........................Overland Park, Kansas Visual Grafix BBS.............................803-306-0134...14400 BPS Sean Miller, Sysop..............................Easley, South Carolina Star BBS......................................404-271-3392...14400 BPS Richard Latty, Sysop...........................Flowery Branch, Georgia The Studio..................................+64-4-499-6954...14400 BPS Glenn Caulfield, Sysop.........................Wellington, New Zealand Petrie's Place................................508-393-1731...14400 BPS Dan Petrie, Sysop.............................Northboro, Massachusetts The Tactical Advantage BBS....................520-747-9927...14400 BPS Bill Spanburgh, Sysop..................................Tucson, Arizona In addition, there are 5 new private SPITFIRE BBS Systems registered. These private SPITFIRE BBS were registered to Sysops in: Sumner, Washington; Alliance, Ohio; Colfax, North Carolina; Athens, Alabama; and Atlanta, Georgia. There are 8 registrations for whom registration information was incomplete. These included BBS's in: Perris, California; New Orleans, Louisiana; Wilmington, Delaware; Valrico, Florida; Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; Surrey, British Columbia, Canada; Sedalia, Missouri; and Tyne and Wear, England. 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.