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FrontDesk Version 02.18.92 Hal Landry (C) Copyright 1992 All Rights Reserved 1 Licensing Information This document makes reference to a number of third-party products. All copyrights, trademarks, and reserved rights held in these products are acknowledged. "FrontDesk" refers to the executable programs and documenta- tion contained in the FrontDesk distribution archives re- leased by Hal Landry. FrontDesk is the copyrighted material of Hal Landry. It may only be used in accordance with the conditions set out in this license agreement. You may use FrontDesk for a period of thirty days on a trial basis. This will allow you time to determine if FrontDesk is suitable for your needs. After this period of time, you must register FrontDesk, or cease to use it. Failure to register the product after thirty days is a violation of this agree- ment. Registration entitles you to use FrontDesk and any future versions of FrontDesk for as long as you wish, subject to any special licensing conditions attached to future versions. For details on how to register, see the section on registra- tion found elsewhere in this document. Hal Landry is in no way obligated to provide future versions of, or support for FrontDesk. Site and group registrations are available, and are dealt with on a case by case basis. You may not modify or otherwise reverse-engineer FrontDesk. You are encouraged to distribute FrontDesk provided that no fee is charged for its distribution, and that the distribu- tion archive is not modified in any way. Pay bulletin board systems may however, charge their normal fee provided that no additional charge for FrontDesk is levied. FrontDesk may not be included as part of any software li- brary, product, system, or other group of programs which is distributed on a commercial basis without prior written per- mission from the Hal Landry. FrontDesk may not be used in any unlawful or illegal manner. The authors liability resulting from your use or inability to use FrontDesk is limited to the amount that the affected party has paid for it. 2 How to Register Print or reproduce the following registration form and send it with your registration payment to: Hal Landry Tel: (303) 741-2339 BBS: (303) 721-1843 7348 Apt D South Xenia Circle Englewood, Co 80112 Registration fee: $15.00 (U.S.) Upon receipt of payment, you will be sent a registration key file. Place this key file in the appropriate location of your computer system and all visual and operational aspects of the program will change from "Unregistered" to "Regis- tered". This key file MAY NOT be made available to any one else. Doing so is a violation of this agreement. By using FrontDesk, you agree to all terms and conditions stated in this agreement. If you do not agree to abide by these terms and conditions, don't use FrontDesk. Payment should be in the form of a personal check, or a cash- iers check. Please, no cash or money orders. 3 --- FrontDesk Registration Form --- Name:__________________________________________________ Address:_______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ Voice phone number: ___________________________________ BBS phone number : ___________________________________ BBS name: _____________________________________________ Network names and addresses assigned to you: _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ 4 How to get support You can always get support and technical assistance from the author by contacting him at: Hal Landry Voice: (303) 741-2339 4:00 pm to 9:00 pm RMT (Daily) Data : (303) 721-1843 24 hrs a day (HST) 1:104/336@FidoNet 69:2101/34@AdultLinks 5 What is FrontDesk? FrontDesk is a set of programs which allow users to reserve specific time on your BBS. It is set up so that a user may make a reservation, and be assured that he will be able to get on at the desired time. FrontDesk can be used to set user flags, limit time remain- ing, etc as part of it's normal operation. It is intended for RemoteAccess systems running 1.10 or 1.11. The system determines which version of RemoteAccess is being run and will operate accordingly. Versions other than 1.10 and 1.11 will NOT support the RemoteAccess specific features. FrontDesk will work with other BBS software. At this time however, it will not shorten sessions, adjust time, or alter flags for systems which are not running RemoteAccess. 6 Installation FrontDesk should run on any IBM 80x86 compatible computer. The only other required programs are DOS 3.0 (or later), a bulletin board system (normally RemoteAccess), and a FOSSIL driver. The latter two should be available from a local bul- letin board system. You will, of course, need a modem. This document assumes that you will be installing FrontDesk to run as part of a RemoteAccess bulletin board system. If you are going to use some other bulletin board package, please contact the author for more information. Let's get started. Create a directory to place the FrontDesk files into. By de- fault the system expects to be placed in a directory named "\HLUTIL". You may change this if you so desire. If you do, you must edit the file CDESK.CFG later in the installation process. Uncompress the archive and place the resulting files in to the directory just created. From this point on, unless oth- erwise specified, all operations will be done in this new di- rectory. If you placed the FrontDesk files in some directory other than "\HLUTIL", you must edit the CDESK.CFG file. Find the line in the file which indicates the path to the FrontDesk files. Replace the "\HLUTIL" with the appropriate path in- formation and save the changes. You may then exit the editor. If you are going to run FrontDesk on a multi-node BBS, you must edit the CDESK.CFG file to ensure that system file lock- ing will work correctly. In addition, you must have the DOS SHARE.EXE loaded. Edit the CDESK.CFG file. Locate the line which indicates the multi-node status. If you are not using a multi-node system you may delete this line. If it is NOT there and you ARE using a multi-node system, add the follow- ing to the file: "multinode system" Remember, if this line is in the file, you MUST have SHARE.EXE loaded before the FrontDesk system will function properly. Use the configuration compiler to create a FDESK.CFG file by issuing the following command at the DOS prompt: CDESK CDESK.CFG FDESK.CFG 7 The program will display the from and to file names, and then ask your permission to continue. Just press return and the new FDESK.CFG will be created. At this point, all of the appropriate files have been cre- ated, and you may now proceed to update your BBS menu struc- ture to activate FrontDesk. From this point on, we are going to assume that you are using RemoteAccess 1.01, 1.10, or 1.11. If not, you might have to grope your way through the installation process. If you have problems, feel free to call for help. If you are not using R/A 1.10 or 1.11, some of the features will not be available to you. This is because these features update your USERS.BBS and I am not able to determine if these features will corrupt files for systems other than R/A 1.10 or R/A 1.11. Ok, now that the files are all in the right place, lets begin by backing up your RemoteAccess system files. I'll let you determine the best way to do it, but please back up at least your menu files and your CONFIG.RA file. If you don't and something happens, don't come crying about it. I won't be able to help you. The first program we are going to install is FDESK.EXE. This is the primary BBS interface program. This program checks to see who is logged on and the current date and time. It then compares that information to a list of outstanding reserva- tions. If a conflict is found, it gives the user an error message and then drops DTR, and returns to RemoteAccess. The absence of DTR causes RemoteAccess to log the user off and the board is now open for the next caller. You may install this program just about anywhere, just as long as it is the first thing executed when the user logs on. On my system, I have placed it on the menu TOP. Enclosed is an example of my TOP.MNU file. If your BBS uses nonstandard IRQ and/or memory locations for the serial ports, please see the section later in this document. You'll have to account for this before your users can use the system, but it will have no bearing on your abil- ity to install FrontDesk and verify that it is operating properly in a local mode. If you are using a FOSSIL, FrontDesk will sense it and work accordingly. To install FDESK.EXE, create a menu item using RAMENU, or RACONFIG, as appropriate. It should probably be the FIRST item on this menu. The settings are as follows: User Display : ; Action : Menu item type 7 Optional Data: \HLUTIL\FDESK.EXE \HLUTIL\FDESK.CFG \HLUTIL\FDESK.RSV DORINFO1.DEF -N*N Hot Key : Automatic : Yes 8 Color : Security : 0 Flags A: N/A B: N/A C: N/A D: N/A The -N*N tells FrontDesk which node number that you are using when you started R/A. This means you don't have to copy dorinfo1.def to dorinfo2.def for node two, and so on. Non R/A system might need a bat file to accomplish the same thing. Example: echo off copy dorinfo1.def \hlutil\dorinfo2.def cd \hlutil fdesk.exe fdesk.cfg fdesk.rsv dorinfo2.def cd\qbbs Save this change and run RemoteAccess in local mode. This is done by the command: RA.EXE -L -D You will notice that all of your normal displays occur, in- cluding the new mail and new files checks. I am assuming that you have them enabled. If not, they wouldn't show up anyway. If you installed the FDESK.EXE menu item as the FIRST item, then you will see FDESK.EXE load. The first time it runs, it will create the file FDESK.RSV. We will discuss this file in much more detail later. Since the FDESK.RSV will be empty, you'll get a blurb about no reservations, and then you need to press return to continue with the BBS session. If the above description does not represent what happened, check your work and try again. Don't go any further until you get this part working. Ok, now if you have the new mail and new file checks at logon enabled, TURN THEM OFF. If you don't, it will be possible for someone to consume a bit of time reading his mail and looking at new files BEFORE FrontDesk gets the chance to kick him off. This is optional of course. On my system, I have a second menu item on TOP.MNU which causes a new mail check to happen for each user that logs on. The new files check is delegated to another menu dealing with file areas. This menu is NOT included in the product archive for FrontDesk. Whew, all that work and we are only half way through the in- stallation process. The next set of instructions deal with the installation of RDESK.EXE. This program is the one which your users will use to make, list, and cancel reservations. Pick one your existing menus, and we'll install RDESK.EXE. 9 Using RAMENU or RACONFIG, as appropriate. Create a new menu item. It should have the SAME optional data as your TOP.MNU did, just substitute RDESK.EXE for FDESK.EXE. The other menu item parameters (User display, etc.), I'll leave up to you to choose. Ok, save your changes and let's run RemoteAccess in local mode again. Work your way through your menu options until you get to the one you just added for RDESK.EXE. Select it, and if everything is right, RDESK.EXE will run. The first thing you will notice is that there are no reserva- tions in the file. Well, we are going to fix that right now. Choose (R) to make a reservation. Answer no the 'repeated daily' question (if it appears). Enter todays date in MM/DD/YY format and press return. Be sure to include the slashes. Enter the current time (in 24 hour format) and press return. Be sure to include the colon (:). Answer yes to the 'is this correct?' prompt. Now select (L) to list the reservation you just made. When asked, choose (Y) to list only your reservations. If all is well, the reservation you just made will be listed. You will see the date and time, but NEVER any names. If the reservation you entered didn't show up, double check your work and if it still doesn't work call for help. Choose (C) and the reservation you entered will be displayed. You'll be asked which reservation. Type in the reservation number associated with the reservation and press return. You'll then see the 'record(s) deleted' message. Choose (E) and RDESK.EXE will return you to the BBS. This completes the installation process. If you got this far, then I haven't done that bad of a job. We not only in- stalled the product, but we verified the ability of the BBS to run the FrontDesk programs. Everything else that can go wrong should be outside the scope of FrontDesk. The remaining sections of this document deal with the multi- tude of details about FrontDesk. Each of the three programs is fully explained. We will also discuss multi-node systems, special configurations (BBS, phone lines, and IRQ/memory). Feel free to hack this up as needed so that your users can have a how-to file on FrontDesk. It beats your having to create one from scratch. 10 CDESK.EXE - FrontDesk Configuration Compiler Command line format: CDESK.EXE fromfile tofile This program will compile the text file specified in the fromfile parameter into the configuration file specified in the tofile parameter. Both file names may include drive path specifications if needed. If errors are encountered during the compile process, the lines in error will be IGNORED. The fromfile is a simple text file which you can create with your favorite text editor. An example text file CDESK.CFG is included in the distribution archive. It is shown here for reference. The spacing between command words and parameters is as fol- lows. The may be one and only one space between words in a command. There may be one or more spaces between that com- mand and it's parameters, as well as between the parameters themselves. Failure to follow the criteria will result in errors during the compile, and as stated before, commands which are in error are IGNORED. Also blank lines, or lines that start with semicolons (;) will treated as comments. Comments may also appear on the same line as a command, just follow the command and its pa- rameters (if any) with at least one space. Example text file: ; ; This file is used to control the environment under which the FrontDesk ; system operates ; ; Each of the following parameters serves a unique function which is fully ; explained in the documentation ; ; This line says that you have to have a security class of at least 100 ; in order to reserve time between 3:00 and 4:00 am on Mondays. access window monday 03:00 04:00 100 11 CDESK.EXE - FrontDesk Configuration Compiler ; This line says that the sephamore, key, and other files will be found ; in the directory c:\hlutil path to files c:\hlutil ; This line indicates that you are operating a multinode BBS, and that ; locking will be done around all of the FrontDesk file update operations. ; ; For this to work YOU MUST HAVE share.exe loaded. multinode system ; This line controls the grace period. If I make a reservation, and I dial ; in up to 10 minutes AFTER my reservation, it will still be honored. ; ; Example, I reserve this board for 4:00 am. Between 4:00 and 4:10 am, I ; will be the only one allowed to access to the board. After 4:10, any ; other persons may use the board (including me). See the documentation ; for exceptions to this scenario. grace period 10 ; This line indicates how many reservations a person may have. In this ; case the limit is four. This means that I may have no more than four ; reservations pending. I may make reservations for four different date ; and time combinations. maximum reservations per person 4 ; This line indicates the minimum security level that a user must have in ; order to reserve the same time every day. While this counts as a single ; reservation entry, it is in effect for every day of the week. This type ; of reservation does not check against the established access windows. ; ; A good example of who would use this is the Sysop on vacation. Want to ; dial in and read your mail, but don't want to have to fight with your ; users for access. Simply reserve the system for the same time every day ; and enjoy yourself. You will know that you'll always be able to logon. permanent reservation security level 100 The following pages will document each of the commands in this configuration file. 12 CDESK.EXE - FrontDesk Configuration Compiler GRACE PERIOD n This command establishes a time window that is appended to each reservation made. This permits a user to miss his res- ervation by a few minutes, but still have it honored. This is kind of like a hotel giving a guest a 'late arrival' res- ervation. This time period is in minutes, and is in the range of 0 to 36767. If not specified, the default is ten minutes. An example of usage would be: With a grace period of ten minutes, I'll make a reserva- tion for tomorrow at 04:00 am. This means that I can dial in and the board will be reserved for me up until 04:10 am. Be- tween 04:00 and 04:10, I'll be the only one allowed to log on, unless someone else has a conflicting reservation. If this is the case, the first one of us to log on, gets the system. An example command in the text file would be: grace period 10 This value if changed, becomes effective at once. It is not made part of each reservation record. It is loaded from the configuration file each time FDESK.EXE and RDESK.EXE run. REMEMBER - The time period between the reserved time and the reserved time PLUS the grace period will be reserved for a specific user or user(s). If anyone else logs on to your system, they will get a message, and then they will be logged off! Don't make this time any greater than it needs to be. It defaults to ten minutes, but on my board I set it to five minutes. Personal preference. 13 CDESK.EXE - FrontDesk Configuration Compiler PATH TO FILES drive\path This command defines where certain files of the FrontDesk system may be found. All of the files on the FrontDesk archive should be placed in the drive\path location specified here. If not specified, the default is the current drive\path specification. Some files may be excepted from the need to reside at this location. Those will be covered in the special configuration section. An example command in the text file would be: path to files c:\hlutil Note the trailing '\' is optional. If it is not there, the compiler will put it there for you. If changed, this command becomes effective at once. The next executions of FDESK.EXE and RDESK.EXE will process using the new drive\path specification. 14 CDESK.EXE - FrontDesk Configuration Compiler MAXIMUM RESERVATIONS PER PERSON n This command will control the number of outstanding reserva- tions that each person may have. If not specified, the default is one reservation per person. If changed, the changes are effective at once for new reser- vations. It will not impact the reservations which a person may have already placed. An example in the command file would be: maximum reservations per person 4 This would limit each person to four pending reservations. On my system, I set this value to 2. Personal preference. 15 CDESK.EXE - FrontDesk Configuration Compiler MULTINODE (no parameters) This command tells FrontDesk that it needs to use the DOS file locking facility when accessing certain files. This is needed if you are running a multiple node BBS and are sharing the FDESK.CFG or FDESK.RSV files. If specified, then SHARE.EXE must be loaded prior to running FDESK.EXE or RDESK.EXE. Failure to load SHARE.EXE will re- sult in the FrontDesk system failing to operate correctly. If changed, the changes become effective at once. The next execution of FDESK.EXE or RDESK.EXE will then operate based upon the current setting. If not specified, the default is NOT to use multinode operation. 16 CDESK.EXE - FrontDesk Configuration Compiler PERMANENT RESERVATION SECURITY LEVEL n This command indicates the minimum security level that a user must have in order to make a permanent reservation. A permanent reservation is one which occurs at the same time, every day of the week. It will always be there, unless can- celled by the user. An example would be, as a Sysop, I'm on vacation. I'll want to be able to dial in and check my messages at 9:00 every day. I don't want to have to enter a reservation for every day that I'll be gone. Instead, I create a single permanent reservation for 9:00 am. As a result, I know that I'll al- ways be able to get into my system at 9:00 am (assuming that there are no conflicting reservations). If changed, this becomes effective at once. When RDESK.EXE next runs, it will edit against the new value. If not specified, the default is a security level of 99999. An example of the text file command would be: permanent reservation security level 100 On my system, I set it to the Sysop security level. That way, I'm the only one who can use this feature. Personal preference. 17 CDESK.EXE - FrontDesk Configuration Compiler BBS TYPE {RA, OTHER} Some the functions of FrontDesk only work with RemoteAccess systems. This command is used to tell FrontDesk what BBS software you are using. If not specified, the default is OTHER. Currently only RA and OTHER are valid types. Future releases will provide support for other BBS software types. Example: BBS TYPE RA 18 CDESK.EXE - FrontDesk Configuration Compiler PATH TO USERS.BBS pathname The features which work only on RemoteAccess systems update the USERS.BBS file. In order to do this, FrontDesk needs to know where to find the USERS.BBS file. The only program which writes directly to USERS.BBS is UDESK.EXE. It does this when a session has been shortened, and the time deducted is being credited back to the user for use later in the day. Example: PATH TO USERS.BBS C:\RA 19 CDESK.EXE - FrontDesk Configuration Compiler PATH TO CONFIG.RA pathname This command tells FrontDesk where to find your CONFIG.RA file. This command is valid only when the BBS TYPE is RA. It need not be specified for BBS TYPEs of OTHER. The only reason the FrontDesk accesses CONFIG.RA is to deter- mine the version level of RemoteAccess. Example: CONFIG.RA C:\RA 20 CDESK.EXE - FrontDesk Configuration Compiler TIME ZONE zone This command allows you identify your time zone. This infor- mations is displayed to your users as part of RDESK. It will give them some idea on the differences between your time zone and theirs. It is NOT used to calculate times due to differ- ent time zones. Example: TIME ZONE PST 21 CDESK.EXE - FrontDesk Configuration Compiler FLAG sessiontype flaginfo This command is valid for RemoteAccess systems only. When FDESK returns control to your BBS, it can be instructed to set one or more user flags. This is useful for telling your BBS what session type is currently under way. Session types: RESERVED SESSION The user has signed on and is taking advantage of a reserva- tion which he had already made. SHORTENED SESSION The users sessions has been shortened so that is will no cause a conflict with a pending reservation. If installed, UDESK can be used to credit the user for the time reduced. REGULAR SESSION The user does not conflict with any reservations. In simple terms, this is a way to set a flag to tell your BBS that FrontDesk is working. NO SESSION The users session should be cancelled because it conflicts with a pending reservation. If this command is NOT specified, then FrontDesk will simply hang up the phone in cases like this. When this command IS specified, FrontDesk WILL NOT hang up the phone. Instead, control will be re- turned to your BBS and you are responsible for logging the user off. Flag info: In all of the above commands, a flag can be set. The format of the flag info parm is: GFA where: 'G' is the flag group code (A, B, C, or D). 'F' is the flag number (1 to 8). 'A' is the flag attribute. '+' means turn on the flag. '-' means turn off the flag. '*' means toggle the flag. 22 CDESK.EXE - FrontDesk Configuration Compiler Examples: FLAG NO SESSION A1+ Turn on flag A1 if this session needs to be aborted. FLAG SHORTENED SESSION B8- Turn off flag A8 if this session was shortened. FLAG RESERVED SESSION C1* Toggle flag C1 if this session is honoring a reservation. 23 CDESK.EXE - FrontDesk Configuration Compiler SESSION LIMIT n This command is valid for RemoteAccess systems only. This command allows you to specify a maximum session time limit for reserved sessions. A n example would be a user who normally gets 3 hours a day, but you don't want reservation sessions to be any longer than 30 minutes. You would use the following command: SESSION LIMIT 30 Please note, time that is deducted by this command is NOT credited back to the user. His 30 minute session will be his last session of the day. If the user has less time than the session limit, his time will NOT be increased. 24 CDESK.EXE - FrontDesk Configuration Compiler ACCESS WINDOW day from to seclvl This command permits you to define times during the day that can be reserved only by people with a minimum security level. Each window is for a specific day of the week. This is specified by using the actual day. You know, Monday, Tues- day, etc. Each window may have a distinct start and/or stop time. They may also overlap. The only rule is that a window MAY NOT span MIDNIGHT. Times must be entered in 24 hour format, with the colon (:). Security level can be any valid RemoteAccess security level. This permits you to reserve time blocks for your special us- ers, or to block out time that you normally use to process mail or other activities. If not specified, no time windows exist. You may have up to 100 time windows. If that's not enough, let me know, it's your P/C's memory not mine. An example of the time window command is: time window saturday 16:00 23:59 100 In this example, only people with security levels of 100 or higher may reserve time between 4:00 pm and 11:59 pm on Sat- urdays. People can make reservations for other time blocks during this time. This only controls who can reserve your BBS for use during this time. 25 CDESK.EXE - FrontDesk Configuration Compiler QUIET MODE (Registered versions only) This command suppresses all display output from the FDESK program. This means that when there is reservation conflict, your users will not see any displays nor will they be asked to press return to continue. Except for the 'Loading...' and 'returning...' messages, they will have no idea that anything special is going on. Quiet mode will not suppress the ASCII FDESKIN and FDESKOUT files if they exist in the 'path to files' directory. In the event of a reservation conflict, all displays will be presented as in the unregistered version. 26 FDESK.EXE - System availability checker This program is invoked by RemoteAccess each time someone logs on to your system. Using the callers name and the current date and time, it checks to see if there are any reservations for the current time. If not, the caller is allowed access to the BBS. If there is a reservation, but it is for someone else, the caller will be logged off. If the reservation is for the caller, he will be allowed access to the BBS. FDESK supports two ascii files. FDESKIN.ASC is displayed prior to FDESK.EXE beginning execution. FDESKOUT.ASC is dis- played when FDESK is terminated. In order to be displayed, these files must be in the 'path to files' directory. At this time, there is no support for substitutions used to dis- play things like names, date, time. FDESK also supports ascii files which may be used to custom- ize the messages displayed to the users. They are: FDWEL.ASC - The top of the screen welcome message. NORES.ASC - Message displayed when no reservation conflict exists. YESRES.ASC - Message displayed when a user has signed on to use his reserved time. OTHRES.ASC - Message displayed when a user is not allowed to sign on due to a pending reservation. SHORTEN.ASC - Message displayed when a users time remaining has been shortened due to a pending reservation. 27 UDESK.EXE - Time adjustment program This program will credit a user for time he lost as the re- sult of a shortened session. It is valid only for RemoteAccess systems. This program should be run just before RemoteAccess fires up. The format is: UDESK.EXE configfile node Example: UDESK.EXE \hlutil\fdesk.cfg 2 Example bat file: :START: CD\RA \HLUTIL\UDESK.EXE \HLUTIL\FDESK.CFG 2 RA -N2 GOTO START 28 RDESK.EXE - Reservation Entry Program This program is used to actually enter reservations. In ad- dition, it can list and cancel reservations as well. When adding a reservation, a person must specify a date un- less the reservation is a permanent one. The date must be in the format of MM/DD/YY including the slashes. An invalid date will result in an error. The time of the reservation must be entered in 24 hour format (00:00 to 23:59) and it must include the colon. When listing reservations, the user may see just his, or he may request to see all reservations. In any case, he will see only dates and times. Never names. User's with Sysop security will be shown the names of users holding reservations when listing reservations. When cancelling a reservation, the user must specify which reservation he wants to cancel. RDESK supports two ascii files. RDESKIN.ASC is displayed prior to RDESK.EXE beginning execution. RDESKOUT.ASC is dis- played when RDESK is terminated. In order to be displayed, these files must be in the 'path to files' directory. At this time, there is no support for substitutions used to dis- play things like names, date, time. 29 FrontDesk - Special BBS configurations Ok, most of you are going to be running a single node BBS, with or without a mailer. Others will be running systems with multiple phone lines, computers, phone numbers, etc. I can't begin to cover all of the possibilities, so I am go- ing to provide you with some guidelines on the file con- figurations which are available. In some cases, you may take exception to my suggestions, that's fine. Set the system up the way you need to, and if it works for you great. If you run into problems, give me a call and I'll see what I can do to help. The first situation is a single node BBS. For this system, you don't need to do anything. The installation process set the system up just as you'll need it. Feel free to read on, maybe you'll get some ideas for other things or later times. The next situation will be a BBS with more than one node and different phone number FOR EACH NODE. The only change that I think you SHOULD make is that on the RemoteAccess menu op- tions for RDESK.EXE and FDESK.EXE, you should use a different path and/or file name for FDESK.RSV. Why? Well this is where the reservations are held, and if you used the same file for more than one node, all of the nodes would be locked out during a reservations start time until your grace period has elapsed. This isn't a real good idea. You can do it, but you'll be causing problems for users who should be able to logon the other (if any) available node(s). You may, at your discretion, use a different FDESK.CFG for each node. If do, just change the drive and/or path specification on each of your nodes menu items to reflect the different file names. The next system, is one that has mode than one node, but only on phone number. In this case, when user dials in, he'll get the next available node. You'll be a lot better off if you treat this as a single node BBS. If you don't, you'll have reservations for a user on (let's say) node one, and he may logon and get connected to node five. If this happens, two things occur. He's already on node five se he's happy but the reservation file for node one will show him as having missed a reservation (when he didn't really), and node one will be needlessly tied up until the grace period elapses. The final system is a combination of the last two. I'll keep this short. Use a different FDESK.RSV file for each PHONE NUMBER used to connect to your system. If you don't, just read the previous two paragraphs. If you can thing of something else, let me know and I'll make a suggestion. The final decision, however, is still yours to make. 30 Release History 02.02.92.b - Beta Test CDESK.EXE would always write to file FDESK.CFG regardless of the file specified in the 'tofile' parameter. Fixed. 02.18.92 - General release. Support of ASCII files Limit a sessions time on the system if it would impact an al- ready scheduled reservation. Only done if the current ses- sions is not the result of a reservation. Valid only for RemoteAccess systems. 31