Category : BBS Programs+Doors
Archive   : RVR20C-2.ZIP
Filename : USER.DOC

rOverBoard BBS - Version 2.0 - User Docs

Copyright (C) 1987 - 1991 FreeLance Programming
All rights reserved


FreeLance Programming / PO Box 726 / Washington DC 20044-0726
The Wizard's Workshop / 301-322-8678 / 300 - 9600 / 24 hours


Table of Contents Page #
----------------- ---------
About rOverBoard i
Reporting Bugs i
User Interface 1
"Hot" keys 1
The logon process (for old and new users) 2
rOver's menu structure 5
Common menu commands 5
User "help level"; what it is and how it works 7
The MAIN menu 8
The DOORs menu 8
The MAIL menu 9
Fields on the message header(s) 9
The EDIT menu 11
The READ menu 12
The CONFIG menu 13
The CHANGE menu 13
The FILEs menu 14
Fields on the file listing(s) 14
The ZIP menu 16
The USERs menu 17
The USERLIST menu 18
The BULLETs menu 19
The STATs menu 19















rOverBoard BBS Software
Version 2.0
i

rOverBoard BBS is a user-supported product from FreeLance Programming. This
document contains information on interacting with the rOverBoard software
from the user end. All available commands are documented, even if a given
user may not have access to some commands (as would normally be the case;
some commands are rightfully reserved for the sysop only). This document
should serve as a complete reference for the user interface. If you find
missing or erroneous information contained herein, please contact me (as
"Sysop") on:

The Wizard's Workshop
(301)-322-8678 (free; new users ok)
(301)-322-2115 ($$$; no new users)
3/12/24/96 24hrs

Or by mail at:
FreeLance Programming
P O Box 726
Washington DC 20044-0726


The latest version of the rOverBoard BBS software will always be available
for downloading from The Wizard's Workshop, should you be interested in
starting your own BBS, or converting to the rOverBoard software. The
software may also be found on local BBSes in your area; however, only the
file on The Wizard's Workshop is _guaranteed_ to not be modified in any
way.






























rOverBoard BBS Software
Version 2.0
- 1 -


rOverBoard's user interface can be broken into a series of discreet pieces,
with routines to handle such things as logging on, logging off, and driving
the menu system. A description of these pieces, their functions and their
restrictions, follows this section.


During all of these pieces, rOver supports a variety of "hot"-keys; control-
-key combinations that can interrupt and direct rOver. These control-keys
(designated by a caret + the letter, as in ^C for Ctrl-C) can also perform
differently at different "places" in the software. The hot-keys that rOver
supports, and their actions, are described below:

^c : Ctrl-C will flush either input or output. If pressed while output
remains to be displayed, that output is cancelled, and the "next"
menu appears. If pressed while entering cmds, the current input
line is erased. ^c does not work on non-flushable output, which
includes 1st-time screen displays and menus.

^k : Ctrl-K works very much like ^c. The only exception is when reading
mail. Instead of returning to the READ menu (as ^c does), ^k simply
skips to the next (or previous, if reading backwards) message.

^x : Ctrl-X in its default state resembles ^c. This key has some other
functions which take precedence, however:

- Aborts file transfers (upload _or_ download)
- Exits chat mode (both user-to-user and sysop-to-user)

^s : Ctrl-S will pause long output displays. This is especially useful
if you have your line-count set to 0 (ie., no "More-?" prompting).

^q : Ctrl-Q is the "official" key to resume paused displays. In fact,
any key will serve that function for remote callers. (From the
local console, ONLY ^q will "unpause" the display.)


Also, when displaying prompts, rOver will frequently include one or more
possible answers in []'s. Where given, these options are the default inputs
that rOver will assume if you press without entering anything. If
there is more than one choice displayed, the one in UPPER-CASE is the default,
while the others list all valid choices. If there is no default in brackets,
pressing with no input will generally abort the command in progress.
If the user is at a menu and enters NULL input, rOver simply redisplays the
current menu. (In the case of the READ menu, this is done _after_ displaying
the next [or previous] message.)










rOverBoard BBS Software
Version 2.0
- 2 -


The first thing you will see when you connect to a rOverBoard BBS is a prompt
used for parity testing ("Press ENTER to synchronize our modems"). The only
acceptable response to this prompt is , with or without the high-order
bit set (as it would appear is sent by a terminal set at 7/E/1). Any other
characters are ignored. If no valid response if received within 4 seconds,
rOver will repeat the prompt (up to 15 times). rOver supports 8/N/1 and
7/E/1, via this prompt.

When you have replied to this message, rOver will tell you which node # you
are connected to, and the baud rate and word length/parity settings. The
displayed baud rate is always the "real" speed of the connection, regardless
of both the speed at which the host and local modem are talking, and the
effective thruput due to compression (if any). Here rOver has its 1st chance
to object to your call, if the sysop enforces a minimum-calling-speed limit.

You will then be shown a character, and asked whether you see it as a '1', or
as a solid box character. If you see a '1', your terminal probably cannot
display IBM extended graphics character set, and you should reply with a 'N'.

Next you will be asked if you wish to see things in (ANSI) color. If your
terminal is capable of displaying ANSI color codes (and almost any computer
with a color monitor should be) you can answer 'Y' to this prompt, and rOver
will brighten things up for you, as well as using ANSI graphic commands. Both
these options may be changed while on-line (from the CHANGE menu).

Note that the sysop has the option of configuring the software to support
only callers capable of displaying ANSI color and IBM extended graphics, in
which case neither of the previous two prompts will be displayed.

rOver then displays whatever WELCOME screen(s) the sysop has created. These
screens can be general to all callers, specific to a given node, or both. In
any event, it/they typical contain the board's vital statistics (name, phone
number, hours, etc.). Display of these screens can be aborted at any time by
use of the hot-keys documented earlier. Once these screens are display, you
will be prompted for your ("FULL") user name. User names can be up to 24
characters long. Each character must be a displayable character with an ASCII
value of greater than 31 and less than 127. In addition, the following chars
are NOT allowed: ; : ` ~ [ ] { } " , < > | = | ?.

rOver may ask you to verify that you entered what you thought you did, and
will then search for the user name you have entered. If a matching user rec
is found, rOver will prompt you for and verify your password (max = 3 tries;
invalid attempts logged), check your authorization to logon to that node, and
then log you in (see date of last call, below). Otherwise, rOver notifies
you that the name is unknown, and gives you a (final) chance to change it.
Satisfied that you really are a new user, rOver has one final chance to stop
your call, if the sysop does not accept new users on that node. If no such
restriction is in place, rOver proceeds with the new user sequence, as shown
below.






rOverBoard BBS Software
Version 2.0
- 3 -


Logging on (continued):

- rOver first tries to create a user record for you. If this fails (due
to a lack of free memory or disk space on the host machine), rOver
regretfully hangs up, with an admonishment to retry later.

- User record created, rOver then asks where you are calling from (city,
state). This information is public, and may be searched in the USERLIST
menu.

- Next you will have to choose a password. Passwords (which must be input
twice as verification) can be up to 9 characters long, and can consist
of any character except hot-keys and the key. For additional
security, you are encouraged to use spaces and special characters in your
user password.

- Password successfully entered, rOver may quiz you on the size of your
terminal screen, or it may assume your screen is 80x24, depending on
how the sysop has configured it. The screen length is the maximum # of
lines rOver will output before inserting a pause. The entire pause
mechanism can be disabled from the CHANGE menu by setting this value
to 0 - though the minimum value that can be entered during the logon
process is 11. The default (in brackets), is 24. The width of the
screen determines how long lines can grow before rOver will wrap them
and defaults to 80.

- Terminal information complete, you now enter the registration process (if
any). If the sysop has created a registration screen (REGISTER.SCR), it
it displayed at this time, and the user prompted to enter responses to
any prompts it may contain. rOver has its last chance to auto-reject
your call at this point, if the sysop is running a private system, but
accepts on-line registrations.

- Once registered, the new user process is completed, and the new/old user
streams merge again at this point.


User "login" (date of last call):

Having gotten this far, rOver now tells you how many times you have called,
how many caller # you are to the BBS, and when the last time you logged on
was (if applicable). Your time limit for this call is also set at this point,
based on your access limit, any time that you have already used today, and any
"external" events that the board might have scheduled.












rOverBoard BBS Software
Version 2.0
- 4 -


Loggin on (continued):

Another sysop-optional screen is displayed at this point, if you have not
already seen it. It will NOT be displayed if it has not changed since the
last time you called. If displayed, it (like the registration, and bulletin
[below]) screen(s), it can NOT be cancelled via the hot-keys.

After the second welcome screen, rOver performs some manner of bulletin
processing. If the sysop has no BULLETIN screen, this step is skipped.
Otherwise, the bulletin can consist of either a simple screen (as with the
welcome screen, above), or can be a list of bulletins that are available to
be read, in which case it is followed by a simple menu which allows you
to select menus for viewing. See the section on the menu system for more
information on menus. As with the 2nd welcome screen, nothing is displayed
here if the bulletin(s) are unchanged since your last call.

At this point, rOver checks for mail. This is a two step process, the first
of which checks for "ordinary" messages, and may be forced or suppressed by
the sysop (it is user-optional otherwise). This step displays the message
area # of each area that has new mail addressed to you, along with a count of
how many such messages exist.

The second step of the mail check is performed regardless of any sysop or
user settings, and checks for "notify" mail (mail entered in message area
#63). Any such mail found in this area addressed to you (or to "All" that
you have not read before) is displayed (in full) at this time. Like the
welcome and bulletin screens, these messages are not subject to being aborted
with the hot-keys.

Mail checking complete, you have finished the logon process, and are now
turned over to the control of the menu'ing system, as described in further
detail below.























rOverBoard BBS Software
Version 2.0
- 5 -


rOverBoard's menu structure is described below:


MAIN
|
|--------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|
DOORs MAIL FILEs USERs CHANGE STATs BULLETs
| | |
|-------|-------| ZIP USERLIST
EDIT READ CONFIG


Each menu has a variety of commands, which are explained in more detail
below. There are also some commands which are more-or-less common to (most)
menus, also documented below. All "commands" are one character, and consist
of the first letter of any menu command-word. Commands may be 'stacked'
together, optionally separated by semi-colons. The help system documents
the concatenation requirements and restrictions for each command. The only
time that the semi-colon delimiter is _required_ in command-stacking is when
commands are placed after variable-length strings, as in "ZABC;L", meaning
(from the FILEs menu) Z)ip-File, filename=ABC.ZIP; L)ist-Members. Without
the semi-colon, rOver assumes the filename is "ABC:L" instead. Commands
which cannot be concatenated to typically overwrite the buffer holding user
keystrokes, and are thus forced to sacrifice any type-ahead information.


Common (mostly) commands:

Q : "Quit" this menu (and return to the next-higher menu). This command
works for all sub-menus except EDIT, though it often does not appear
on the help menu.

M : Returns the caller to the MAIN menu. This command works for all
sub-menus except EDIT. If the caller is already at the MAIN menu,
the MAIL-Menu option of that menu is selected.

G : Goodbye - logoff and hang up. This command works at all sub-menus
except EDIT. If the node is restricted as "bulletin-only", and the
caller does not have "can use node #" authorization, the M)AIN-menu
and Q)uit-this-menu options are removed from the BULLETs menu, and
replaced by the G)oodbye command.














rOverBoard BBS Software
Version 2.0
- 6 -


Common commands (continued):

? : Help. This command displays various help information, depending on
the current "help level" (which can be modified from the CHANGE menu).
The "help level" also controls the way menus are presented, in the
following manner:


Help Level Menu Format
---------- -----------------------------------------------------------
4 Menus consist of a sysop-modifiable full-screen file,
followed by the help level 0 prompt. If no screen file
exists for a given menu, help level 3 is used instead.

3 Menus consist of three layers; two-or-more word cmd names,
a list of all cmd letters, and the current menu name.

2 Similar to help level 3, except that command names are
reduced to a single word display. All three prompt levels
are still displayed.

1 Removes the top layer altogether, reducing the menu to
the list of command letters plus the menu name.

0 Removes all but the menu name.


Thus, the MAIN menu might look like one of the examples below, based on
your current help level:

Help Level 3: B)ULLETs-Menu C)HANGE-Menu F)ILES-Menu G)oodbye
H)ints-Screen M)AIL-Menu P)age-Sysop S)TATS-Menu
U)SERs-Menu Y)our-Mail
B C F G H M P S U Y (? = help)
MAIN >

Help Level 2: B)ULLETs C)HANGE F)ILEs G)oodbye H)ints M)AIL P)AGE
S)TATs U)SERs Y)our
B C F G H M P S U Y (? = help)
MAIN >

Help Level 1: B C F G H M P S U Y or ?
MAIN >

Help Level 0: MAIN >










rOverBoard BBS Software
Version 2.0
- 7 -


Notice that all menus are both alphabetized and arranged in consistent
column widths, based on your "width-of-screen" setting, with aligned
line-wrapping as necessary. Also, rOver will only display those
commands that are authorized for any given menu, in both the menu and
help displays. Commands may be unauthorized because you do not have
appropriate access, or because that feature is unavailable (as with the
-Screen display commands - if no .SCR file exists to be displayed, the
corresponding -Screen cmd is disabled).


In general, the lower your help level, the more rOver-aware the software
will treat you, at menus as well as many other input prompts. Ok? All
that really has nothing to do with the '?' command, but it IS something
we need to know at this point, as we'll see.


? : Help (cont.)
The help command, then, works in different ways at each help level,
based on rOver's assumption that, for example, if you are have your
help level set to 0 but are asking for help, you probably just forgot
a command name, and don't REALLY want to see the entire help display.
So, at each help level (starting from the bottom this time):

Help Level Action
---------- ----------------------------------------------------------
0 Displays a brief msg about how to get more help, then
displays the regular help-level-2 menu.

1 Displays a brief msg about how to get more help, then
displays the regular level-level-3 menu.

2 - 3 Display a prompt requesting the letter-name of the command
that help is needed on. If a valid (for that menu) command
is entered, displays help for that command. If another ?
is entered, displays help for ALL commands.

4 Acts like help level 3 if no .$CR/.AN$ file exists for the
current menu, or if you request help for a single command.
If you request help on ALL commands, the sysop-modifiable
help screen (.$CR/.AN$) for that menu is displayed.















rOverBoard BBS Software
Version 2.0
- 8 -


The MAIN Menu:

A)nswer-Survey - Fill out the latest survey, if there is one.
B)ULLETs-Menu - Enters the bulletin menu, if available.
C)HANGE-Menu - Enters the CHANGE menu.
D)OOR-Menu - Enters the DOOR menu.
F)ILES-Menu - Enters the FILE menu.
H)ints-Screen - Displays the "hints" screen, if available.
M)AIL-Menu - Enter the MAIL menu.

P)age-Sysop - Rings the bell on the host computer for up to 1 minute
to attract the attention of the sysop. This command can
be disabled, or the sysop can have the (configurable)
"bell" set to silence.

S)TATs-Menu - Enter the STATs menu.
U)SERs-Menu - Enter the USERs menu.
W)elcome-Scrn - Displays the "welcome" screen, if available.

Y)our-Mail - Scan all of your "CONFIGured" msg areas (defaults to
all areas) looking for new mail addressed to you.
Similar to the "Check for mail option" at logon time
(which may be suppressed or forced to "yes"), this cmd
displays the total # of messages in each area that are
addressed to you and which have not been "received".


The DOORs Menu:

D)os-Shell - Allows authorized users to shell to the DOS prompt,
thru whatever mechanism the sysop has provided for
that purpose (such as DOORWAY.EXE).

L)ist-Doors - Displays the list of available door programs.

O)pen-a-Door - Executes the indicated doorway program. This can
also be achieved by simply typing the number of the
door program; it is NOT necessary to type the "O".

W)ho-is-On - Display a list of installed nodes, and a brief status
display of who is on each, and what they are doing.














rOverBoard BBS Software
Version 2.0
- 9 -

The MAIL Menu:

In the MAIL and READ menus, rOver recognizes "*" to mean "the last msg #
read in this area". Any command that expects a msg # as input should
accept an asterisk in this capacity from both menus.

When reading or listing mail, rOver uses a semi-standard message "header"
before the text of the msg. That header looks something like this:

Msg #0/93 [5] 1 Jan 90 03:02:01 (P) (R)
From : Sysop (10 Jan 90)
To : New User (Comment to #32)
Subject: Welcome to TWW!

The above hdr shows that it is msg #93 from area #0, that it has been
read 5 times, that it was entered on 1/1/90 @ 3 am by the sysop, that it
is a private msg, and that it has been received by "New User". It will
be deleted on 1/10/90, unless someone K)ill's it first. Both "normal"
and "received" default days are sysop configurable by msg area.) It is
a reply to msg #32, and the subject is a common one. Messages that are
not private, have not been received, and/or are not comments will be
missing those pieces from their headers.

A)rea-Change - Select the "active" message area; list available areas.
B)atch-Read - Non-stop reading of msgs, without menus or pauses.
C)ONFIG-Areas - Configure your favorite msg areas by adding or removing
them from the list that is displayed when checking for
mail, when "skipping" into the next area (while reading
mail sequentially), and when doing an A;? command.

E)nter-or-Edit - This command has two forms. Use "E" to enter a new
message or "E;####" to edit a message that has already
been entered. Only msgs that you have entered can be
edited, unless you have special access. "E;####" will
place you at the EDIT menu with the msg in the buffer;
see the section on the EDIT menu for more information.
All edited and newly entered messages must be saved
with the S)end-Msg command. The "S;area#" form of the
S)end-Msg command may also be used to copy the message
to another message area.
F)ind-String - Search To/From/Subject for the specified string;
displays the "headers" of any msgs that match.
K)ill-a-Msg - Delete the indicated message #; prompts for the # if
not given. You can only kill messages to or from you
unless you have special access.
L)ist-Msgs - Displays the "headers" of all msgs starting from a
given message number.
N)otify-Msg - Works like "enter", only saves the resulting message in
area #63.
O)ld-Msgs - Search the current area for previously read messages
addressed to you.





rOverBoard BBS Software
Version 2.0
- 10 -

The MAIL Menu (continued):

P)ublic-Msgs - Search the current area for msgs addressed to "All".
R)EAD-Mail - Enter the READ Menu. This can also be done by simply
enterint a msg # to start reading at, with or without
the "R". To read the "last msg read in this area",
however, requires the "R", as in "R;*".
S)can-Mail - This command works much like the L)ist-Msgs command,
except that it produces an abbreviated list using
only one line per message.
X)tend-a-Msg - Change the "keep-til-date" on the specified message.
Y)our-Msgs - Search the current area for unread mail addressed to
you. Displays the "header" (only) of any such msgs.











































rOverBoard BBS Software
Version 2.0
- 11 -


The EDIT Menu:

All EDIT menu commands can be executed directly from the msg body.
Simply type the letter of the command (optionally preceded by a
'.', '*', ';', or '/') in column 1 of the line of text being entered
or added. For example, saving a msg without ever seeing the EDIT menu
might look something like this:

... ...
20> this is the last line of the msg.
21> .s


A)dd-to-Msg - Continue adding lines to message. To eliminate
unwanted in the message, press after
using this command, to seamlessly rejoin the
previous line of text. ( can always be used
to "go back" to the previous line when entering msgs.)
C)ancel-Msg - Discard the work buffer and return to the prev. menu.
D)elete-a-Line - Delete a line of text from the message.
E)dit-a-Line - Change text on a given message line.
F)rom-Whom - Change the "From" name on the message. The new name
must NOT already be on the user list.
I)nsert-Lines - Insert a blank line into the message. To then E)dit
text into that line, simply press when asked
for "OLD string", then type the text as "New string".
K)eep-til-Date - Modify the "keep-til-date" of the current message.
L)ist-Msg - List the message (display text w/ line numbers).
P)rivate-Toggle - Change message from Public to Private ("(P)" in the
message header) and back to Public.
R)efer-to-What - Change the "Subject > " field of the message.
S)end-Msg - Save/send the message. This command has two forms,
depending on where EDIT was entered from. If the
"msg" being edited is a user-to-user message, then
the command is simply S. Otherwise, if this is a
msg-area msg, the command can optionally be specified
as "S;##", to save the msg to a specific msg area.
T)o-Whom - Change the "To > " field of the message. Use of this
command will unconditionally set the "received" flag
("(R)" in the msg header) to "off".
W)ysiwyg - Display the message, exactly as another user will see
it (ie., without any line numbers.
<)Import-Text - Read message text from a disk file. The file must be
available in some area to which the you have access.
>)Export-Text - Write message text to a disk file. You must have
upload access in at least one area to use this cmd.









rOverBoard BBS Software
Version 2.0
- 12 -


The READ Menu:

A)rea-Change - Select the "active" message area; list available areas.
For example, enter A;0 to change to message area #0.

B)atch-Read - Non-stop reading of msgs, without menus or pauses,
starting at the "next" message (last_msg_read + 1).

C)omment-to-Msg - Leave a comment (reply) to the current message. This
command can also be entered as "RE" (reply).

E)nter-or-Edit - Works exactly as in the MAIL menu.

K)ill-a-Msg - Delete the current message.

N)otify-Comment - Like C)omment, but msg is auto-saved to msg area #63.

X)tend-Msg - Change the "keep-til-date" of the current message.

Y)our-Msgs(s) - Searches the current area for un-received messages
addressed to you, and "reads" the 1st such msg found.

+)Read-Forward - Set the "read direction" to forward (the default).
Pressing at the READ prompt causes rOver
to read either the "next" (default) or the "previous"
message, as determined by the "read direction".

-)Read-Backward - Works like +)Read-Forward except that the direction is
backwards. This works across message areas, as well.
If you have read the highest (or lowest) message in an
area, and press again, you will read "skip"
to the next (or previous) configured area, and reading
will continue in that area.






















rOverBoard BBS Software
Version 2.0
- 13 -


The CONFIG Menu:

A)dd-an-Area - Add a msg area to your "configured" list. This list
is used when checking for mail from the MAIN menu,
when displaying the list of available areas (A;? -
though note that other areas remain accessible, just
invisible, except via A;??), and when "skipping"
between areas in the READ menu (sequential reading).

L)ist-Msg-Areas - List all the authorized msg areas, and indicate which
ones are configured. This is equivalent to the A;??
display from the READ/MAIL menus.

R)emove-an-Area - Remove a msg area from your "configured" list. Note
that new users have all message areas configured by
default.


The CHANGE Menu:

A)scii-Chars - Toggle your ASCII setting on or off. This setting
controls whether or not you will be sent characters
with ASCII values of greater than 127.
B)uy-Time - Exchange credits for additional on-line time. Such
time MUST be used on the same day it was purchased.
If it is not used (or re-sold) on the same day, it
(and the credits used to buy it) will be lost.
C)ity-State - Change your city-state information.
H)elp-Level - Change your help level (see the '?' command).
K)olor-Display - Toggle your ANSI setting on or off. This
setting controls whether you will be sent ANSI display
commands, such as color.
L)ines-Count - Change your line-count (the # of lines that rOver
will display before inserting a More? message).
N)ame-Change - Change your alias. The new alias must not
already exist, and must not contain any special chars.
P)sw-Change - Change your password. Use caution with this
feature, as it does NOT require the password to be
entered twice. The new password IS displayed (once)
after it is changed, however.
S)ell-Time - Exchange on-line time for additional credits. Can be
used to regain credits spend via the Buy-Time command,
or simply as a way to accumulate additional credits.
Note that the sysop has the option of buying and selling
time at different exchange rates, as well as disabling
either or both of these commands.
W)idth-of-Scrn - Change your screen-width setting (the # of columns
rOver will display before wrapping a line of text).







rOverBoard BBS Software
Version 2.0
- 14 -


The FILEs Menu:

rOver uses a "credit" system to control file transfers. When they logon
for the first time, you are given a sysop-controlled # of credits.
Credits are gained by a) entering messages, and b) uploading files.
They are lost by downloading files. The amount of credits for each
activity is also controlled by the sysop, on a per-area basis. There
are two "limit" fields associated with credits : "total credits", which
is the total # of credits you have available, and "today credits",
which control the # of available credits you may "spend" in any one
day. The credit check(s) are one of three basic controls on d/l's,
the other two being a) d/l access to the area, and b) available time.
Time requirements are also sysop-configurable on a per-area basis.

When displaying files, rOver uses the following standard format:

12 ROVER.ZIP 192519 5/06/90 [187] 10/11/89 by Sysop
rOverBoard BBS Software ver 1.9f - complete

The above entry shows that the file ROVER.ZIP is available in file area
#12. It is 192,519 bytes long, was created on 5/6/90, and has been
downloaded 187 times. It was uploaded 10/11/89 by the sysop. The dates
can be "reversed" (ie., uploaded before it was "created") in this manner
when the physical file has been modified since the file entry was first
created. The last two fields (upload date and uploader name) are
suppressed if that information does not exist in the BBSFILES.DAT file,
or if the sysop has chosen to do so for all files in that area.

A)rea-Info - Display the list of authorized file areas, and display
various stats about the selected area. rOver uses the
concept of "file area" only for convenience; all files
are available "globally".

D)nload-a-File - Transmit [a] file[s] (to YOU). rOver supports several
protocols for both down- and uploading, including X,
Y, and Zmodem. You should note that rOver's Ymodem
is "True Ymodem" (ie., a BATCH protocol). Some comm
programs (such as Procomm!!!) incorrectly label the

Xmodem/1k protocol as "Ymodem", and only offer "True
Ymodem" as "Ymodem/Batch". Do not be misled! Users
with "Can read any file" access have the option of
entering a fully-qualified file name (ie., one which
contains drive and/or directory information), in which
case the file (which need not be in BBSFILES.DAT) is
accessed free of credit restrictions.










rOverBoard BBS Software
Version 2.0
- 15 -


The FILEs Menu (continued):

B)rief-Toggle - The L)ist-Files and N)ew-Files commands can display
files in one of two formats. The extended format (the
default) displays two lines of information about each
file, while the brief format uses only one line per
file. This command switches between those two formats.
It's state is saved in the user's record.

F)ind-Names - Search all files looking for filenames that match the
input string. Users with "Can read any file" access
can enter a fully-qualifed filespec (ie., one with
drive and/or directory information) to force rOver to
do a DOS 'dir'-style search, rather than looking in
BBSFILES.DAT. Wildcards are only permitted when doing
extended searches in this fashion.

K)ill-a-File - Delete a file (from the list and from the disk). if
the file is in an area where uploads are permitted,
you are given the opportunity to remove the upload
credits from the file's uploader (if known).

Authorized users can delete files from any disk by
specifying the complete file name (drive and/or path).
Such files need not be in BBSFILES.DAT, and if they are,
they are not removed if killed in this manner.

L)ist-Files - This command is identical to B)rief-List, except that
it uses the standard display format for each file
(as explained at the beginning of this section.) The
[list of] file area[s] can be entered with or without
preceeding (and/or intervening) "L"'s.

N)ew-Files - Display all files uploaded since the selected date.
Pressing ENTER (or '?' or '*') will default to the date
you last asked for the new-files display (which is NOT
necessarily the date of last logon). This command can
be used to obtain a list of all files on the board by
specifying 01/01/80 (with or without the leading zeroes
and/or slashes) as the date. User "c" (continuous) at
the "More?" prompt to suspend "More" prompting for the
duration of the list, if you are "capturing" the infor-
mation rather than reading it.

P)ost-a-File - Create a file entry for an existing file on disk (or
for an area #63 "blocking" entry). If the file doesn't
actually exist, it will simply be flagged as MISSING.








rOverBoard BBS Software
Version 2.0
- 16 -


The FILEs Menu (continued):

R)emove-a-File - Remove a file entry from the file list. Like K)ill,
except that the actual disk file does not get deleted.
rOver simply "forgets" about the file.

S)earch-Descs - Search file names/descriptions/uploader-name/etc.,
looking for matches to the input string.

T)ype-a-File - Display the contents of a text (ASCII) file.
Authorized users can select any file on any disk by
specifying the complete file name (drive and/or path).

U)pload-a-File - Send a file (to the BBS). Note that all upload
protocols are currently single-file only.

X)move-a-File - Move a file from one file area to another. The file
is physically moved between sub-dirs if necessary.

Y)our-Stats - Display basic user stats, including daily and total
time, K, and credit restrictions.

Z)IP-Menu - Select a ZIP file name and enter the ZIP menu.
Authorized users can select any file on any disk by
specifying the complete file name (drive and/or path).


The ZIP Menu:

L)ist-Members - Display the list of members in the .ZIP file.

V)iew-Members - Allows you to unzip and view text files contained
within the selected .ZIP file. This command actually
uses an external program run as a door to process files,
and functionality may vary depending on what external
program the sysop installs. Note also that since this
program is run as a door, it is subject to all the
restrictions on door programs in general. (See the DOOR
menu for more information).

Z)ip-File - Select another .ZIP file for processing.














rOverBoard BBS Software
Version 2.0
- 17 -

The USERs Menu:

$)Change-Credit - Allows "Remote Sysop"s to add or remove credits from
any user. The # of credits entered is always added to
the user's total; use a negative # to remove credits.

*)Chat-Toggle - This command allows you to prevent other users from
requesting a chat (via the C)hat command; below).
Normally, any user who is authorized to Chat is fair
game (unless transferring files, etc.). Selecting
this command politely rebuffs anyone who attempts to
chat (except the sysop). It will NOT prevent other
users from sending T)ext-to-User messages. Selecting
this command a second time will reverse the affects,
and once again allow incoming chat requests.

A)ssign-Mask - Gives a user whatever privileges are defined by the
selected access mask. Use of this command requires
the "Is Remote Sysop" access switch.

B)rief-List - Quick display of entire user list.

C)hat-with-User - Request a chat with another user. In order to send
a chat request to another user rOver waits until that
user is sent a before interrupting with the
request. If the request is accepted, you will be put
into chat mode with the user. The other user can
choose not to enter chat mode, can globally block you
from requesting a chat, and can be unavailable, as
when transferring files or playing a door. It is
possible to create "conferences" by simply requesting
a chat with a user who is already chatting with someone
else. A user may exit chat mode at any time by
pressing CTL-X (^X). If only two users are in chat,
this will terminate the chat completely. Otherwise,
the user who pressed ^X will exit the chat, and the
other(s) will remain in chat mode.

F)ind-Names - Search the user list looking for users with names
matching the input string.

K)reate-a-User - Create a new user record from scratch. Use of this
command requires the "Is Remote Sysop" access switch.

L)IST-Users - Enter the USERLIST menu.

S)earch-City-St - Search the user list looking for users with city/state
info that matches the input string.








rOverBoard BBS Software
Version 2.0
- 18 -


The USERLIST Menu:

T)ext-to-User - Send a message to a another user (on-line). Subject
to the same restrictions as chat requests (ie., cannot
be done while the other user is transferring files,
etc.), this function uses the standard message editor
to prepare the msg text to be sent.

U)pdate-Access - Can be used to add or remove a user's access to a
given message or file area. Changing access to an
area requires "demi-god" status in that area ("Is msg
demi-god" for msg areas; "Kill/Remove" for file areas).
This command will not affect other "demi-gods'" access.

W)ho-is-On - Display a list of installed nodes, and a brief status
display of who is on each, and what they are doing.

A)ll-Users - List all user names, with various stats for each user.

D)nload-Access - Display the list of all users who have download access
to a selected file area. As with all such commands on
this menu, the user cannot display any information on
things to which they do not themselves have access.

E)nter-Access - Display all users w/ enter access to msg area ##.
L)ist-Access - Display all users w/ list access to file area ##.
R)ead-Access - Display all users w/ read access to msg area ##.
U)pload-Access - Display all users w/ upload access to file area ##.

N)ode-Access - Display all users who are authorized to use node #.
Unlike the other xxxx-Access command on this menu, you
do not need to be authorized to access the selected node
in order to execute this command. Note that if the
node is not restricted, all users will be listed,
regardless of the state of their "can use node" flags.




















rOverBoard BBS Software
Version 2.0
- 19 -


The BULLETs Menu:

L)ist-Bulletins - Display the menu of available bulletins.
N)ew-Bulletins - Display the list of all bulletins (by #) that
have changed since your last logon date.
R)ead-Bulletins - Display a specific bulletin #. This can also be
done by entering the bulletin #, without the
preceding "R".


The STATs Menu:

A)rea-Totals - Display totals by area (total msgs/total files).
B)oard-Stats - Display misc. board status (# calls / space, etc.).
C)aller-top-40s - rOver maintains a variety of "top-40" statistics
(ie., the 40 users with the "highest" in whatever
category). These lists of users are displayed
(from "highest" to "lowest") by the commands here.
"Callers" refers to the 40 users with who have
called the most # of times.
D)nload-top-40s - 40 users who have downloaded the most (in K).
E)ntered-top-40s - 40 users who have entered the most messages.
L)ast-top-40s - The last 40 callers.
N)ewest-top-40s - The 40 most-recently-added users.
O)ldest-top-40s - The 40 oldest users.
R)eader-top-40s - The 40 users who have read the most # of msgs.
U)pload-top-40s - The 40 users who have upload the most (by K).
V)ersion-Number - Display the current date/time & software version.
Y)our-Stats - The same as the Y)our-Stats cmd in the FILEs menu.
$)Most-Credits - The 40 users with the most (total) credits.
-)Least-Credits - The 40 users with the least (total) credits.
<)Least-Wanted - The 20 least downloaded files.
>)Most-Wanted - The 20 most download files.