July 12, 1989 D'Bridge - Wildcat! - Smlnet OVERVIEW Net/Echomail is an international exchange of electronic mail between computers. There are many networks available which are designed to facilitate this exchange. Some of these go by the name of FIDONET, BBSNET, ALTERNET, and USNET, just to mention a few. FIDONET is by far the largest of these network services. In order to be a part of this network you are required to at least be set up to send and receive mail through that network. Once you've done that, you may then apply for a net/node number which you'll get from your local network HOST. Details of the procedure for obtaining a net/node number, as well as the fidonet policy can be found on most fidonet BBS's in the form of POLICY4.*. To find out who your network host is, contact a BBS in your area that belongs to the fidonet. From there you can find out who the local HOST/HUB (HUB is one step below HOST) is. It will be through him that you will likely send and receive mail. That BBS should also be able to provide you with the uptodate NODELIST for the network, as well as the file describing the network policy. You'll need the NODELIST (the networks telephone directory) prior to being able to send any mail. I recommend that you get it the first opportunity you can, even before you set up for d'bridge. PRELIMINARY SETUP In order for the WILDCAT! Bbbs system to be able to participate in the above mentioned networks, you'll have to set up for 1) "Front-end" and 2) Mail reader. There are many "front-end" programs available, the most popular at the time of this writing are BINKLEY, FRONTDOOR, D'BRIDGE, SEADOG, DUTCHIE, and FIDO. Having had experience with the first three programs mentioned I've finally settled with d'bridge mainly because of its built-in features and diversity not found in the other "front-end" mailers. D'bridge however, requires registration after a 30 day test period, and unless you are committed to Net/Echomail, you may benefit from another mailer based on cost. Wildcat! at this time requires users to read echomail and netmail messages using a utility, much like you would call a [D]oor. I'm aware of only three such utilities, being QUICKBBS, ECHODOR, and SMLNET. The advantage that smlnet has over quickbbs is its ability to support a network environment, support for up to 38,000 baud, and ease to set up. It is that reason I have chosen it over qbbs. Echodor is similar to smlnet, but I haven't had the experience with it. The discussion that follows will assume that you have Wildcat! bbs set up and running without difficulty. I will therefore, devote my attention to the interfacing of d'bridge and smlnet with the wildcat system. The following are some of the recommended files you will need to get your system going. DB121a.* DB121b.* DB121doc.* DB121prb.* DB121Ins.* SMLNET1F.* DSZ###.* -- Optional Conf331.* -- Optional (Confmail v. 3.31) (Message maintainance utility) NODELIST???.* WC2RBBS.* X00110.* or BNU130.* ARC553.* -- or PKXARC PKZ092.* -- Optional PLST_130.* -- Optional (Parselst version 1.30. Node processor). D'BRIDGE SETUP 1: Decompress DBINIT.* into a work directory. 2: Put all your DB###.* files in any directory. It does not matter. 3: Decide where you'll want d'bridge to run from. You should have a directory with approx 2 megs of space (not including that which will be taken up by echomail). For example \DB. 4: With DB121 comes X00.sys. This is a fossil driver that allows DB to run. I personally use BNU.com which allows me to change my com port to locked, and unlocked at 19200 during various times of the day. If either you don't have a high speed modem, or if you always lock your modem (hence don't run those live games that don't support locked modems) than X00.sys is just fine. You'll need to install it in your config.sys and to do that just place x00.sys in your root directory. Add to your config.sys the line; DEVICE = X00.SYS (default com1). -or- DEVICE = X00.SYS 1 (for com2). 5: Reboot your computer! You should see a message stating fossil driver successfully installed and some advertising. You now have the fossil driver loaded. 6: Run the installation program you decompressed in step 1: by typing install. It will ask you for where you keep the d'bridge files, and where you want it to go. Answer the questions appropriately and carefully. 7: You may want to stop the procedure after verification that the files are installed and ok. Here is the time I suggest you type out all the DOCS!!!. There are 250 pages, but they are invaluable as a resource. Depending on the speed of your printer, it may take up to an hour or more. 8: With the initial pages from the documentation in hand, again start up the install program and choose first time installation. The program will ask you for a net/node number. You should have agreed upon one with your dealings with the HOST/HUB, however if not, i'd choose one you know won't be in the nodelist. ie 999 for net and 9999 for node. Still, it would be more advantagious to you to talk with your HOST to get at least a pre-registered net/node number so at least he can put you into his private list, and you can quickly send mail back and forth locally. 9: There will be many questions, but basically answer those the best you can. I'll explain each one separatly with examples. Lastly you'll be asked for a support board. Depending on your area, choose an appropriate one. If cost for a long distance call isn't of great concern, may I recommend the EAST COAST support (Philly). His board has tended to be quieter than some of the others at the time of this writting. 10: Once you have done this initial setting, type DB from the d'bridge directory. D'bridge should load up and start dialing for a DEMO key. If it does not, you may have to change the init strings. It is important to note, that the d'bridge settings for your modem will be different than that used by wildcat. D'bridge only supports verbal commands (vs numeric responses for wildcat). With that in mind, type db setup, and go to the comm/modem menu. D'bridge is all menu driven, which makes it quite nice to set up! 11: When you get your demo key, which will given to you immediately upon connect with the support BBS you will then be able to use d'bridge. All that is required is to fine tune it to your liking. Hugh (Mitchell Doctor on Board HST 1:250/101 416-684-7710