Category : BBS Programs+Doors
Archive   : NETM151B.ZIP
Filename : SETUP.DOC

NetMail Setup Documentation
A Doorware Product

READ THIS COMPLETE FILE BEFORE DOING ANYTHING

THIS PROGRAM IS SETUP IN 5 PHASES. GET EACH PHASE RUNNING AT
LEAST 2 TO 3 DAYS (WITOUT ERRORS) BEFORE PROCEDING TO THE NEXT
PHASE. AFTER PHASE 4 IS COMPLETE, LET THE PROGRAM RUN ABOUT A
WEEK BEFORE LETTING YOUR USERS INTO THE DOOR...

THE EXAMPLE FILES ARE JUST THAT, EXAMPLES ONLY!! THEY MAY WORK
FOR YOU, BUT REMEMBER THEY MUST BE SET UP FOR YOUR
SYSTEM/OPERATION.


INTRODUCTION


Welcome to the world of NetMail for the RBBS. You will find this
one of the most interesting (and fun) parts of the RBBS operation
you will ever get into.
This will open up the whole world of NATIONAL conferences, about
100, to you and your users.

Why is this program setup into 5 phases? It is done that way
because you are installing 3 NEW programs into your system and
they are all NEW to you and they all can effect your BBS
operation. I want this to have as little effect on your system as
possible because I know this will appeal to you.

THIS is NOT a SIMPLE job and it will take TIME to setup and learn
this program, so take it slow and easy!!

I have set up the Door program NetMail using 2 commerical
programs, SEAdog and Conference Mail. This is not to say that
they are the only programs that will work, but in checking
around, these 2 programs appear to me to be the most stable and
well documented programs available. Please state that you are
getting these programs to work with RBBS door NetMail written by
Bob Westcott. This does NOT get you a discount or a special
program but gives credit to the RBBS software and myself. You may
purchase the programs from the following companies:

SEAdog from:
System Enhancement Associates
21 New Street
Wayne, N.J. 07470 (201-473-5153)
Cost is about $100.00


Conference Mail:
Spark Software, Inc.
427-3 Amherst Street
CS 2032, Suite 232
Nashua, N.H. 03061 (603-891-1555)
Cost is about $35.00

There are 2 types of message operations built into this software.
NetMail: The original FIDO Mail System
EchoMail: The new NATIONAL conference System which was
added to the network in 1986.

You only need SEAdog to run NetMail, but you need Conference Mail
to run the National conferences (EchoMail).
In my opinion the best program is the EchoMail!!

I am not going to try to teach you the operation of the 2
commerical programs as their operation manuals are very good. (I
learned them both in less than a week and had them up and
running). I will tell you how I have all my files set up to help
you get going and you can then check their manuals and see what I
have done to get the programs to work on my system.

Inclosed you will find a program called POLICY3.DOC that will
tell you how to get started in the required net and how to get a
net/node number (your address on the network) without which you
will never get started.

I highly recommend that you get this system up and running for at
least 1 week before letting your users into it for 2 reasons:

1. To allow you time to insure that you have everything
set up correctly and the way you want it.
2. That you have a message base that will give your
users a start.

You should have at least 4 megs of disk space for your message
base and programs, maybe more, as this can really grow if you let
it.


P h a s e O n e


RBBS SETUP

RBBS (version 15.1B) does support SEAdog operation and the
following changes are required in the config file to get SEAdog
to operate.
(I have my RBBS-PC.EXE located in C:\)

Save your version of RBBS-PC.DEF as you will need it later!!!!

SEAdog is going to be your new front end and will now answer the
phone for you and will control the complete system.

Make the following changes with your CONFIG.EXE program:

On line 143 set it up for (S)ystem
On line 222 set it up for Seadog

This will now create your new RBBS-PC.DEF to work with SEAdog.
Remember RBBS will not work the way it used to, that is why you
saved your old version of RBBS-PC.DEF, and later I will tell you
a way to run RBBS in local.
(I keep the RBBS-PC.DEF on drive A:\ you will see why later!!)

Next you will need a new RBBS.BAT file. My program is set up as
follows and should work for you.
(Mine is on C:\)

:LOOP
CD\
IF EXIST RCTTY.BAT DEL RCTTY.BAT
WATCHDG1 ON
WATCHDG1 OFF
RBBS-PC /%1 /%2
IF NOT EXIST RCTTY.BAT GOTO EXIT
WATCHDG1 ON
RCTTY.BAT
GOTO LOOP
:EXIT
WATCHDG1 OFF
CD\MAIL

The next change is to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file.
(Mine is on A:\)

SET SEADOG=C:\MAIL
PATH A:\;C:\;C:\MAIL
COPY RBBS-PC.DEF C:\
C:
C:\SEADOG.BAT




SEADOG SETUP

You will need a minimun of 2 other programs to maintain your
nodelist. XLATRGEN.ARC and EDITNL33.ARC. Both of these files may
be obtained for just about any BBS that is running EchoMail.

The following is a sample setup for your SEADOG.BAT file.
THIS FILE CONTROLS EVERTHING THAT RUNS IN RBBS NOW!!!!
(Mine is located in C:\)

:LOOP
C:
CD\MAIL
MAILER
IF ERRORLEVEL 5 GOTO ECHOTXT
IF ERRORLEVEL 3 GOTO TWIX
IF ERRORLEVEL 2 GOTO ROBOT
IF ERRORLEVEL 1 GOTO RENUMBER
GOTO EXIT

:RENUMBER
RENUMBER
GOTO LOOP

:ROBOT
ROBOT
GOTO LOOP

:TWIX
TWIX
GOTO LOOP

:ECHOTXT
ECHOTXT.BAT
GOTO LOOP

:EXIT
CD\



The following is a sample of a CONFIG.DOG file.
(Mine is located in C:\MAIL)


Name Bob Westcott
BBS C:\RBBS *T *B
Node 132/114
Mail C:\MAIL\MESSAGES
Files C:\MAIL\FILES
Pickup C:\MAIL\PICKUP
Pickup D:\
Pickup C:\DOORS
Help Help
Modem Baud 9600
Modem Setup ATE1Q0H0X6S0=1M1&M4&H1&R1
Modem Reset ATZ
Log Seadog.log Detailed
Banner (Please Standby) RBBS being loaded.
MsgBits Private Kill/Sent
Kill Null
Dial 1-603
Event Base 3:00
Event X5 All 0:30 1:00
Event B All 0:30 1:30
Event H All 1:30 2:00
Event T All 2:00 3:00
Event L All 3:00 4:00
Event X1 All 4:00
Event X3 All 4:00
Event S All 0:00 24:00 Crash Dynamic

Remember the above is an EXAMPLE only. Do not copy it. Write your
own batch file that will work for your operation!!

This is the end of Phase one. Do NOT proceed to phase 2 until the
system operates correctly. Seadog must answer the phone, and if
it is not another Seadog, it will call the RBBS and return you to
Seadog when all the RBBS functions are completed and the user
hangs up. The doors you have on your system should work correctly
and you should be able to send messages via the Seadog Mail
program and receive them the same way.



P h a s e T w o

CONFERENCE MAIL SETUP

You must get the name of your local echomail distributor, which
your net coordinator should have. Decide what echos you wish to
have on your system, and then have them sent to you.


The following is a sample of an AREAS.BBS file.
(Mine is located in C:\MAIL)

Stateline RBBS - Merrimack NH (603)424-5497 ! Bob Westcott
C:\Mail\Private Private 132/101
C:\Mail\General General 132/101
C:\Mail\Sysop Sysop 132/101
C:\Mail\IFNA IFNA 132/101
C:\Mail\Seadog Seadog 132/101
C:\Mail\Pascal Pascal 132/555 113
C:\Mail\Consul Consulting 132/555


Use something like the batch file, listed on page 34, of the
documentation, to create a file called echotxt.bat file that will
be called by your Seadog.bat file.

This is the end of phase 2 and you should not continue until you
can send mail (echomail) using the mail program in seadog and
have the conference mail program send and receive echomail and
toss it into the correct locations.




P h a s e T h r e e


NETMAIL PORGRAM (Doorware by Bob Westcott)

NetMail is a Doorware program that interfaces the Seadog and
Conference Mail programs into a door operation so that the RBBS
user may now get involed into the Netmail (FIDO type operation)
and EchoMail operation and enjoy it like the users of OPUS. This
door is inserted into RBBS in the same manner as any other door,
BUT requires that you make 2 more files so that it can interface
with the users.

The AREAS.NET file (you may name this file anything you wish) is
the file that informs NetMail what EchoMail conferences you are
using and which ones are for the Sysop ONLY! There are some
conferences that are NOT for public use.
This file is ONLY REQUIRED if you are running EchoMail and is not
required if you are running NetMail only. The follow is an
example of an AREAS.NET file.
It is best to make this file with a program like EDLIN but any
program will do as long as it DOES NOT insert any control
charactors!!
(Mine is located on C:\MAIL)

C:\mail\tradewar Trade_Wars
C:\mail\forsale For_Sale
C:\mail\sports Sports
sysop-only
C:\mail\sysop Sysop
C:\mail\nesysop NE_Sysop

The above file is set up as follows:
line 1:
The first entry is the subdirectory where the conference is
located.
The second entry on the line is the name of the conference
that will be displayed to the user/sysop.
There can NOT be any spaces in the name.
There may be as many spaces between entry 1 and 2
as you like, BUT at least 2 are REQUIRED.
NOTHING else may be on the line.
line 2:
Just keep repeating line 1 for the number of conferences
you have, EXCEPT DO NOT put any of the sysop-only
conferences in as of YET!!!

When you have all the user conferences inserted on the NEXT line,
put sysop-only (MUST BE IN LOWER CASE), and that is the ONLY
thing on that line!!!!

Now enter the sysop conferences in the same manner as the users
conferences.

The Maximum conferences allowed at this time is 150 (including
NetMail).


The next file that is required is the SYSTEM.NET file.
The system file contains the information about how your system is
setup and is created by the program called NETINIT.EXE.
Run the program NETINIT and the following questions will be
asked:

1. What is your net number.
Enter the Net number that has been given to you by your
net coordinator.
2. What is your node number.
Enter the Node number that has been given to you by your
net coordinator.
3. Where is the location of your Seadog NODELIST.
You must enter the Complete path ie C:\MAIL
4. Where is the location of your Seadog MESSAGE area.
This is the area where your Seadog messages are located,
NOT you conferences. ie C:\MAIL|MESSAGES
5. Are you running EchoMail (Requires ConfMail or similar
program).
Answer yes or no.
6. (If you answer yes) List the name of the file holding the info
This is the file I listed above and called AREAS.NET

When the above information is entered, the file called SYSTEM.NET
will be created and SHOULD be placed on the same directory/sub-
directory as the program NETMAIL.EXE.

This file is VERY VERY critical. Please do not try to change it
without using the program NETINIT.EXE.

This is the end of phase 3 and you should not continue to the
next phase until the following is working correctly; You must be
able to send and read mail from the netmail program.




P h a s e F o u r

INSURE THAT ALL PERVIOUS PHASES ARE WORKING CORRECTLY BEFORE
PROCEEDING TO PHASE FIVE!!!




P h a s e F i v e

This phase connects the users to the door and is set up like any
other door. You can add it to your GAMES.DOR file if you are
running the MONITOR program or to the Door Menu program in the
RBBS or even, as I have it, in BOTH areas.




NOW THAT I HAVE YOU COMPLETELY LOST AND MIXED UP!!!
---------------------------------------------------

If you are lost, stuck, confused, or in any other trouble, read
the instructions again. If you still have a problem you may call
me for help UNDER the following conditions:

1. I am running this under RBBS ver 15.1B, Seadog, and Conference
mail. If you are using any other configuration I will try to help
but may be in the dark as much as you are!!

2. That you call between 6:00pm and 9:00pm local east coast time
at 603-424-6977. When I am not home an answering machine will
answer as my wife and I work. I am sorry but it is just about
impossible for me to return calls (even collect) as I get so many
calls reference doors that this is just not feasable. I am home
most evenings during the week, but on the weekends may be out a
lot of the time. My job requires me to be called into work
without notice, including weekends, so I may not be home when you
would expect normal people to be. Please feel free to call back
if there is no one at home when you call.


Thanks for using Doorware
Bob Westcott