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▄█████▄ ██ ▄██████▄ ▄█████▄ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██▄▄▄▄ Offline Mail System, Version 2.01 ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ▀▀▀▀██ ▀█████▀ ███████ ██ ██ ▀█████▀ ▄▄▀▀▄▄ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▄▄▄▄▄▄▀▀ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ by Pete Rocca Copyrighted Multiboard Communications Centre, 1994 All rights reserved, worldwide. TABLE OF CONTENTS ═════════════════ Section Page ───────────────────────────────────────────────────── FORWARD What is it? ································· 2 Overview ····································· 2 CONFIGURATION System Information ··························· 3 Archiver Programs ···························· 4 Protocol Programs ···························· 4 Files Configuration ························· 6 Bulletins ···································· 7 Control Setup ······························· 8 Requesting Control ··························· 11 Limits Setup ································· 12 Define Short Style ··························· 12 User Editor ·································· 14 Multi-language Support ······················· 16 Test Configuration ··························· 18 RUNNING Command line parameters ····················· 19 Running under RemoteAccess 2.x ··············· 19 QWK Network Compatibility ···················· 21 Point Network Compatibility ·················· 21 Internet Gateway Compatibility ··············· 21 Remote Maintenance ··························· 22 Customization ································ 23 UTILITIES Command line parameters ····················· 24 INFORMATION License and disclaimer ······················· 24 Registration ································· 25 Support ····································· 25 Error messages ······························· 28 Common questions and answers ················· 29 Known Limitations ···························· 31 Acknowledgments ······························ 32 1 ╓───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╖ ║ What is it? ║ ╙───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╜ A premium QWK, QWKE and BlueWave compatible mail door, with all the trimmings. Includes message keywording, filtering, twit lists, file requesting and more... Easy for your users to use, and easy for you to set up! ╓───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╖ ║ Overview ║ ╙───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╜ OLMS is a powerful and easy to use mail door. It has the power to set up filters and keywords to make your users bundles much smaller, and more on topic with what they want. This is sure to please them, and get your message areas moving! OLMS currently supports the Hudson and JAM message base formats only however, if demand increases, other formats will be added. OLMS can also create new files lists, on the fly, for your users to browse. Your users can request files ( if you so allow ) from your system to be included in their mail packets, as well as the ability to request files that are attached to messages. ...in short, OLMS is a full fledged multi-format mail door, and then adds new features not found in many other similar programs. ╓───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╖ ║ CONFIG.EXE - Configuration program ║ ╙───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╜ OLMS is very easy to install. 1) First, unpack the contents of the archive into a directory 2) Run the CONFIG.EXE program... System Information ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ═══ System name Your system name which is extracted from the CONFIG.RA file,found with the RA environment variable. 2 ═══ Sysop name This is your name from the same CONFIG.RA file. When registering, it is imperative that you specify the name exactly as it appears here INCLUDING WHICH LETTERS ARE CAPITALS. For example the names 'Pete Rocca' and 'Pete rocca' are two different BBS names as the "R" is uppercase in one, and lower case in the other. The same goes for the System name above. ═══ Serial number Here you enter your serial number when you have received your registration key. ═══ Registration number Here you enter your registration number, when you receive your key. ═══ Board ID This is the board identification name. It's 1 to 8 characters in length, and should reflect your BBS name somehow. - For example for "Multiboard Communications Centre" I use "MCC" for my board identification. Also make sure that the ID is unique in your area in order to reduce confusion of your users, and cross-posting of your message bases. ═══ Phone number Here you can put your phone number, in case your users forget it =) ═══ Gateway support If you want OLMS to re-address messages sent to UUCP, GATEWAY or INTERNET, to be moved to a netmail area, and addressed to UUCP at the address specified. *** IMPORTANT *** Make sure that you have the 'KeepTo' setting turned ON in the... Control Setup -> Sysop area control .....for your Fido -> Internet netmail areas if you want OLMS to leave the 'To: ' kludge line in the message. 3 Archiver Programs ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ═══ Compression These are the file names and parameters of the external programs that will compress the mail packets. e.g.) PKZIP.EXE -ex To disable an archiver, simply place "OFF" in this field. ═══ Decompression These are the file names and parameters of the external programs that will decompress the mail packets. e.g.) PKUNZIP.EXE -o ═══ Swap If you wish OLMS to swap out it' s memory before loading the programs, select yes. To determine how much memory you have free to run programs without swapping, simply look in the bottom righthand corner of the screen when OLMS is running. Protocol Programs ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ═══ Transmit These are the file names and parameters of the external programs that send the packet to the user over the modem. e.g.) DSZ.EXE sz ═══ Receive These are the file names and parameters of the external programs that send the packet to the user over the modem. e.g.) DSZ.EXE rz 4 ═══ 1, 2, 3 These allow you to change the name of the configured protocols to whatever you choose After typing in the name, you will be asked for a key to represent the protocol. To disable a protocol, simply press space for the defined key. There are a couple of things to keep in mind when setting up your programs or file names... *P will convert to the current com port *B will convert to the current baud rate *L will convert to the current LOCKED baud rate *N will convert to the current node number *G will convert to RIP/ANS/ASC depending on terminal mode The following metastring only works with the external programs, and not with bulletin or file path setups. *F will convert to the working filename ...for example: XFER.EXE S Z *L *P R *F 3F8 4 N 8 1 ...would translate to: XFER.EXE S Z 19200 1 R BOARDID.QWK 3F8 4 N 8 1 ...if using it on port 1, locked at 19200 If the *F does not exist in the external programs information setup, OLMS will append the filename to the end of the command automatically. ...for example: XFER.EXE S Z *L *P R ...would translate to: XFER.EXE S Z 57600 1 R BOARDID.QWK ...if using port 1, locked at 57600 You should also note that OLMS will swap out memory to XMS, EMS or disk prior to running these external programs, unless you 5 disable the swapping. If the environment variable setting of TMP or TEMP is set, OLMS will use the path set by it for a disk swap if needed. (Therefore this should point to a fast drive) Also these programs _MUST_ be in your system path or pointed to fully. Just having them in your OLMS directory will not work. Files Configuration ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ═══ News file This is the file that will be added into the mail packet if the user requests for the BBS news file to be added. It should contain the full path and file name. e.g.) C:\RA\TXTFILES\NEWS.ANS ═══ Welcome screen If you have 'Send Welcome and Goodbye' set "Yes" in the Control setup, OLMS will insert this welcome file into the mail packet for the user. This can add a personal touch to the users' mail packet when reading. e.g.) C:\RA\TXTFILES\LOGO.ANS ═══ Goodbye screen Much like the welcome screen, this will be packed into the mail packet if you set it to but it will also be displayed if the user requests to log off within the program. e.g.) C:\RA\TXTFILES\LOGOFF.ANS ═══ OLMS Log file This is the full path of the log file that will contain the records of what happened in the door. It is formatted exactly like the RemoteAccess log file, therefore, you could set it to the same log file that the BBS is using, and it will look quite nice. ═══ Log mode There are three types of logging modes. Each mode will log a different amount of info to the log file. 6 Extended - log everything, great for debugging, or if you need the extra information for another program to use. Regular - logs the main important things, posted messages, etc. Compact - records only the totals uploaded, and fatal error messages. ═══ Add linefeed/CR You should set this to 'Yes' if you are not using your main system log file for the OLMS log entries. It will cause OLMS to insert a blank line into the log and force the date to be inserted, no matter the setting in the CONFIG.RA file. ═══ Local upload path This is the path that your mail replies will be, when doing local mail runs. ═══ Local download path This is the path your mail packets should be copied to when doing local mail runs. ═══ Tagline file If you have specified taglines to be added to the uploaded messages, this file should point to your file with taglines in it. The file should be a standard ASCII text file. Bulletins ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ═══ Desc This is the description of the bulletin as seen by your users. Example: "Top 10 Users" ═══ Path This is the full file name of the bulletin to include, for example: "C:\BULL\TOP10.TXT" 7 ═══ Stat Here you can specify either Forced, Normal, Inactive, or Only If New. This will decide the method of packing the bulletins into the mail packet. * Note: You can add the *N *P *B parameters in the file names such as "C:\TXT\UR*B.TXT" which would send the file "C:\TXT\UR2400.TXT" if they were calling at 2400 baud or the file "C:\TXT\UR14400.TXT" if they were calling at 14400 baud, etc. Don't worry if you get a warning message saying it can't find it, as it cannot expand the information until the mail door is running. Control Setup ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ═══ Set the "Kill/Sent" status on netmail You can select here if the netmail uploaded you should have the Kill/Sent attribute set on or not. ═══ Check for duplicate message uploads When set to yes, OLMS will check to see if the messages uploaded, have previously been sent. This is good to prevent users from accidentally uploading the same .REP or .NEW packet more than once. ═══ Include headers in dupe check Normally this should be set to "Yes" however you can prevent 'bombing' or carbon copy messages from being uploaded by turning this off. When off, OLMS will only use the body of message text to determine if it's a dupe or not, otherwise it will include the sender receiver, subject, conference and date into account. ═══ Number of signatures to keep This is the number of duplicates you would like to keep track of. When MAINTAIN is run, it will pack the duplicate base down 8 to this number of entries. The higher the number - the better chance of catching dupes the lower, the faster at checking. Depending on how active your mail system gets used this number should be between 200 and 5000. ═══ Send "Welcome" and "Goodbye" screens You can specify how or if OLMS will insert the Welcome/Goodbye files, as defined in the Files Configuration menu, into the mail packet. Your options are: Allow, Force or No. ═══ Display opening screen When this is set to "No", OLMS will not show the opening TITLE screen. {+} ═══ Allow users to scan for new files When this is set to "Yes", OLMS will scan the the RA 2.x FDB for new files since the users last new file scan. ═══ Release unused time slices OLMS can release unused time slices in the following environments... DESQview 2.x DOS 5.x/6.x DESQview/X 1.x/2.x OS/2 2.x Windows 3.x/4.x DoubleDos x.x ..however, if you find that it creates any strange effects, you can turn it off here. ═══ Maximum number This is the maximum number of consecutive time slices that you want OLMS to release in its idle state. If OLMS is less responsive then decrease this number. If the rest your system seems sluggish when running OLMS then increase this number. ═══ Replace tearlines and origin lines If you would like OLMS to replace the reader tearline instead of appending to it, select 'Yes' for this option. 9 ═══ Replace taglines If you would also like to strip the reader's tagline, then select 'Yes'. ═══ Insert taglines If you would like to insert a tagline to the uploaded messages, select 'Yes' & make sure that you have set the tagline file setting in the "Files Configuration" menu. ═══ Delete local reply files after upload If you would like the local .REP and .NEW files to be deleted after uploading them, then select 'yes' to this option. ═══ Allow users to logoff from door If you do not want your users to be able to logoff from the door, you can disable it here {+} ═══ Select conferences by group If you would like OLMS to present the user with message group areas when configuring the conferences, then select Yes - otherwise OLMS will list all the areas together. ═══ Sysop area control This is where you can specify options for your message areas. ╔══════════╗ ╔═════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║.) Normal ║┐║ [MCC] General Messages ..D.. ║ ║F) Forced ║└║ [MCC] Private Messages ..D.. ║ ║B) Blocked║┐║ [MCC] Automated Messages ..... ║ ║H) Hidden ║└║ [MCC] Just a thought ..D.. ║ ║D) Default║┐║ [MCC] Adult Chatter ..... ║ ║K) Keep To║└║ [MCC] Software Reviews ..... ║ ║X) No Tag ║┐║ [MCC] OLMS Betatesting Conference ..... ║ ╚══════════╝└║ [FDN] Netmail ..DK. ║ ┐└┐└┐└┐└┐└┐└┐║ [FDN] General Sports Discussion ..... ║ └┐└┐└┐└┐└┐└┐└║ [FDN] NHL Hockey ..... ║ ┐└┐└┐└┐└┐└┐└┐║ [FDN] MLB Baseball ..... ║ └┐└┐└┐└┐└┐└┐└║ [FDN] NFL Football ..... ║ ┐└┐└┐└┐└┐└┐└┐║ [FDN] Auto Racing ..... ║ └┐└┐└┐└┐└┐└┐└║ [FDN] General Music Discussion ..... ║ ╚═════════════════════════════════════════════╝ 10 Normal - no special handling for this area Forced - user cannot disconnect this area Blocked - user cannot post to this area Hidden - user cannot see this area Default - this area is toggled on by default Keep To - do not import the To: kludge during message posting (used with Netmail areas for internet) No Tag - do not add a tagline to this area (overrides the 'Insert taglines' setting. ═══ Minimum time left needed to download This setting can be used to restrict users from downloading mail packets at the last minute. Users will be required to have at least this amount of time before being able to download a packet. ═══ Allow RIP emulation If you wish to allow your users to use the door in RIP mode, then select YES. ═══ Menu style (levels) You can either have a one or two level menu system in OLMS 2.01 If you wish for all your options to be on the main screen, then pick 'One' otherwise select 'Two' and you will have your main options on the main menu, and a second 'configuration' type menu. Requesting Control ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── This is where you can restrict the number and type of file requests that can be made from the users. File requests are checked for daily limits, time limits, credit limits, ratio limits, passwords, and visible status in the FDB - so you can be sure that it is safe. Even files that require credits have the credits deducted from the users account. ═══ Allow users to request general files If you want users to be able to request files from in the FDB, then select Yes. ═══ Daily maximum This is the number of daily file requests that a user may make in a day. When you are registered this number can be from 0 to 10, however when unregistered the range is from 0 to 2. 11 ═══ Allow users to request file attaches If you would like the user to be able to download the files that are attached to messages then select Yes. ═══ Free Select yes if you want file attaches to not count against the user's ratio. ═══ Notime Select yes if you want file attaches to not denied if the user is short of time. Limits Setup ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── The values set here, govern the number of messages that can be packed in each conference and each packet. To disable any of the values, just set them extraordinarily high, such as a number like 60000. Also, in the users setup, you can toggle 'Ignore Limits' if you wish a certain user to be able to exceed these limits. Define Shortname Style ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── This is a new way of setting what are called shortnames in your configuration. Due to the way that the QWK mail format was designed, conference names can only be up to 13 characters in length. Therefore you must have what are called shortnames. With other QWK mail programs, you must manually enter these for each area you have on your BBS, and if you ever change, delete or move any of these areas, you must also change all of your shortnames to do the same. However OLMS uses 'QwkSmart' short names that are created 'on the fly' - or each time the door is run. Most people have message areas named in one of four standard conventions. 1) With the network conference name first, examples.. Fido: Sysop Chat [FIDO] Sysop Chat (F) Sysop Chat <Fido> Sysop Chat 12 If this is your case, use the QwkSmart shortstyle type 1. In all of these cases the shortname would be "F-Sysop Chat" 2) With the network conference name last, examples.. Sysop Chat ■ Fido Sysop Chat [FDN] Sysop Chat - Fidonet Sysop Chat <Fido> If this is your case, use the QwkSmart shortstyle type 2. In all of these cases the shortname would be "F-Sysop Chat" 3) With no standard order, in this case use the third style, which will just give the first 13 letters of the conference name. 4) Internet/usenet style, examples.. usenet.programming.c.graphics world.flame.flame domain.type.area In this case, the areas are converted to a style of 'first letter of each division'-'confname'. For example... upc-graphics, wf-flame, dt-area. A) Auto Internet. This is for systems that have both the standard type conference names, and then also Use/Internet type areas. One style for the whole bunch will not work, therefore you can select the style that will match your 'non-Internet areas', and toggle 'Auto Internet' on. On areas that look like Internet areas to OLMS (either all lowercase and contains 1 or more decimals, or the area name contains 2 or more decimals and is mixed case), it will use the Internet style for. S) Short Word. This will create a maximum length word of 4 characters. This is good if you have some conference names that have long words in them. For example: "Machinery Production Status" would turn out to be "Mach Prod Stat" when converted to the short name. C) Compress. This compresses words down to shortforms by finding words with multiple capitals, and deleting the lowercase letters from these words. For example: "RemoteAccess Support" would be "RA Support" and "FidoNet Sysops" would be "FN Sysops" The QWKE and BlueWave formats are not effected by the shortnames and always use the full name when displaying conferences. 13 User Editor ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── The user editor is basically very straight forward. It is used to edit your users' information. There are a few things however that can be changed here that should be reflected upon... ╔═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ User editor ║ ║───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────║ ║ User name: Pete Rocca K) Indexes: Yes ║ ║ Last date: 10-23-94 L) Files: Yes ║ ║ Last time: 23:48 M) Welcome Screens: No ║ ║ #) LID: ROCCAP O) News: Yes ║ ║ @) Format: QWKE Q) Global keywords: No ║ ║ R) Global personal: No ║ ║ A) Archiver: Zip S) Filter personal: No ║ ║ B) Protocol: Zmodem T) Twit personal: No ║ ║ C) Password: Not implemented U) Short conf list: No ║ ║ D) Downloads: 189 V) High Ascii: Yes ║ ║ E) File requests: 0 X) ^A kludges: Yes ║ ║ G) Max/packet: 10000 Y) Ignore limits: Yes ║ ║ H) Max/conference: 1000 ║ ║ I) Use number ext: Yes !) Areas configuration ║ ║ J) Current number: 49 $) Save changes ║ ║───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────║ ║ (N)ext, (P)revious, (F)ind. (*) Toggle delete ║ ╚═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ #) LID, which stands for Local ID. You may have more than one user using the mail door locally. For example, brothers and sisters, husband and wife, etc and normally, each person's mail packet would overwrite the previous packet. This can be a real pain if you do not read ALL your mail at once. With the LID, you can specify a different file name for each user to use, which will completely prevent this potential problem. X) ^A kludges, are special codes inserted in messages that help mail processors decide what to do with mail. Normally in messages you do not want these codes to be displayed, however if for some reason you do, you can toggle whether the user will receive the ^A kludges in the messages. 14 Y) Ignore limits, this decides whether or not this user is restricted by the limits imposed in the Limits Control menu. Normally you would not want your users to be able to exceed your settings, however if certain users should be able to exceed them - due to networks, etc, then this is how you can do this. *) Toggle delete, with this you can mark a user to be deleted from the data file. Please note that they are not deleted right away, rather deleted when MAINTAIN is run. !) Areas configuration ╔════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ [MCC] General Messages ..... ║ ║ [MCC] Private Messages ..... ║ ║ [MCC] Netmail ..... ║ ║ [MCC] UpCheck Messages ..... ║ ║ [MCC] Netmail private ..... ║ ║ [MCC] Programming aw... ║ ║ [MCC] Alias Chat aw... ║ ║ [MCC] Just a thought aw... ║ ║ [NCE] General Chat ..... ║ ║ [NCE] Network Sysops ..... ║ ║ [NCE] Personals ..... ║ ║ [NCE] Current Events ..... ║ ╚════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ Here you can change a users' message base configuration. Note that all the areas are shown, even if the user does not have access to them - do not worry, they will not be visible to the user. Also note, that just because a user has flag settings in a conference, does not make them automatically get messages in that area. For example, if they used to have access to the area, but not longer do, they may still have the flags set, but they will not be able to receive any messages in that area. The keys that are usable here are... Up arrow, Down arrow, PageUp, PageDown, Home and End for cursor movement. The keys used to set the flags are... (N) grant/remove network access (network access permits the users to send replies that don't have their name as the 'From:' person, and also allows them to get private mail not addressed to them. This should only be used in QWK mail network setups. 15 (C) Connect area to network - same as above, but also selects the area, not just grant rights (A) Select with the "All" setting (G) Select with the "General" setting (P) Select with the "Personal" setting (K) Toggle apply keywords setting (F) Toggle apply filters setting (W) Toggle receive mail written by self setting Multi-language Support ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── OLMS allows you to have upto 15 languages supported at the same time. When the user runs OLMS, it will look at their language setting, and if a language is available for it, it will use it otherwise it will default to the normal language. When unregistered, OLMS will not allow custom screens, and only support one editable language text. ╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ RA Language OLMS Language Created Changed Active ║ ║ ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────║ ║ A) English English 10-15-94 10-21-94 Yes ║ ║ B) French French 10-21-94 10-22-94 Yes ║ ║ C) S╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗es ║ ║ D) ║A) Language: English ║o ║ ║ E) ║B) Filename: C:\OLMS\ENGLISH\ENGLISH.OLF ║o ║ ║ F) ║C) Active: Yes ║o ║ ║ G) ║D) Screens Path: C:\OLMS\ENGLISH\ ║o ║ ║ H) ║E) Edit text: List ║o ║ ║ I) ╚══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝o ║ ║ J) No ║ ║ K) No ║ The RA Language is the language as defined in RACONFIG. The OLMS language is the language you have chosen to match up with it. The filename is the actual path and file name to the OLMS Language File (.OLF), it is edited using the "Edit text" option. The Active status is simply whether or not you want this language available. 16 The Screens path is the path to the customized ASC/ANS/RIP screens as well as the OLMS.COL and *.OPT files. If a required file is not found in this directory, it will check the OLMS directory, and if not there, will use the one from the SCREENS.DAT file. Edit text: ╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║> (S) Sí <║ ║ (N) No ║ ║ ( ) Oprima la barra de espacio para seguir ║ ║ (P) Precedente ║ ║ (S) Siguiente ║ ║ (B) Barrido ║ ║ (T) Trucos ║ ║ (I) Irse ║ ║ (A) Añadir ║ ║ (R) Retirar ║ ║ (P) Parar ║ ║ (C) Colgar ║ ╚══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ ╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ Default: (Y) Yes░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ ║ ╚══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ ╔════════════════════════════════════╗ ╔═════════════╗ ╔═══════════════════╗ ║ Name: Spanish ║ ║ Used: 4441 ║ ║ Text Language [√] ║ ║ File: C:\OLMS\SPANISH\SPANISH.OLF ║ ║ Free: 27559 ║ ║ RIP Language [ ] ║ ╚════════════════════════════════════╝ ╚═════════════╝ ╚═══════════════════╝ Please note that creation of languages is not a novice activity! Modifications are simple, but the full creation of a language that fits in perfectly with the screen layouts is beyond the scope of this documentation. Three simple things to keep in mind however: 1) For items that are space dependent (ie Yes and No) make sure that the size of the new text matches. (ie 3 characters) 2) For items that require key definitions, make sure that two options in the same menu do not require the same key. 3) The period can be used to subsitute a space for 'Press space to continue' prompts. This is good for setting up RIP mouse click regions to send a period instead of a space. To navigate through the language editor, the arrow keys are used. To edit an entry, press ENTER and fill in the field To copy the default English text for the entry, press Alt-D To copy the standard text to the RIP language, press Alt-A To search for text, press Alt-F To switch to the text language entry, press Alt-T To switch to the RIP language entry, press Alt-R To exit with a save option, press ESC. 17 When talking about RIP language and text language entry, what is meant, is that there are two completely different sets of text to display when the user is using RIP or normal ASCII/ANSI. When the user is using RIP, you'd usually want to send the same text as you would if they were using ANSI, however this ability to have dual sets allows you to get fancy, and place boxes, and colors and font changes instead of or in addition to the standard text. The tilde (~) key is used to represent a CR. The reason for this, is because RIP commands must always start at the first column on the screen, so for any special RIP commands, you should preceed then with a tilde. For example, you could change the 'Press any key to continue' to a 'Click the mouse to continue' and place it in the bottom corner in a larger font, and accept a click as the key. It might look something like this.. ~!|Y000020|c0F|@4040Click mouse to continue|B010000707000000. Again, any further information about this is beyond the scope of this document. Test Configuration ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── You can test your current configuration with this option. It will check to see if all the files you have defined either exist, or can be created if need be. It also tests to make sure that it can call all of the external programs needed. A file may fail due to the non-expansion of a *N *P *B parameter, which is acceptable. ╓───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╖ ║ OLMS.EXE - The program ║ ╙───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╜ OLMS itself should be run from the directory that the EXITINFO.BBS, DORINFO1.DEF and DOOR.SYS files are created. Normally during a drop from the BBS, this is the directory you will be in. The files that come with OLMS should all be placed in the same directory, as OLMS will look for them in the directory that the OLMS.EXE file is in. 18 Running OLMS ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ═══ Command line parameters The program takes from none to two command line parameters: OLMS - normal execution OLMS /U - auto upload replies OLMS /D - auto download packet OLMS /UA - auto upload replies, without waits OLMS /DA - auto download replies, without waits OLMS /UL - auto upload replies, and quick logoff OLMS /DL - auto download replies, and quick logoff OLMS /UQ - auto upload replies, and countdown logoff OLMS /DQ - auto download replies, and countdown logoff In addition to the above, if you place a /P=user_name before the other switches, it will load the user from the USERS.BBS file, rather than from the dropfiles. For example: OLMS /P=pete_rocca /DA ... would be a great midnight batch file if you wanted OLMS to have your mail waiting for you in the morning. With all these settings you can create many options for your users, so if they don't have a reply, but want more mail, they can select one key and it will automatically pack and send them their mail, or vice versa for not wanting to download but just send back their replies. This can make things simple for people that use scripts. ═══ Running under RemoteAccess 2.x OLMS works on versions of RemoteAccess 2.00 2.01 and even includes support for the new 2.02 netmail flag settings. To run this from your system, you should run it as a type-7 option like this: C:\OLMS\OLMS.EXE *M Or if you are running with a batch file: *C /C C:\OLMS\OLMS.BAT *M 19 Recall from your RemoteAccess documentation that the *M means to use the MemorySwap function of RemoteAccess. Here's an example below for a setup that has non-standard IRQ's set, and must run a batch file to set up the transfer programs setup variables. (Multinode setup) --- RACONFIG ═══ Menus │ 1234567890123456789012345678901234567890│ │ ; │ │ │ │ *C /C c:\ra\doors\OLMS.BAT *N *M │ │ │ │ Action Execute sub-program (Type 7) │ │ Display │ │ OptData │ │ HotKey Q │ --- OLMS.BAT @echo off if (%1) == (1) set DSZPORT=4 if (%1) == (2) set DSZPORT=2f8,2 if (%1) == (3) set DSZPORT= c:\ra\doors\olms\olms.exe set DSZPORT= However, normally, a simple type-7 with the Options being C:\path\OLMS.EXE will be just fine. Also be aware that OLMS will use the proper "From:" name depending on what the RACONFIG setting is for the message area, such as Alias, Pick an alias, and Real names. Also, OLMS is fully able to run on multiple nodes at the same time - up to 255 of them! One last thing to remember, your CONFIG.RA, MESSAGES.RA, FILES.RA, MGROUPS.RA, and your FGROUPS.RA files should all be in the same directory that is pointed to by the "RA" environment variable. 20 ╓───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╖ ║ QWK Network Hub Compatibility ║ ╙───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╜ OLMS uses the standard net conference block settings to be added on the end of the MESSAGES.DAT file, as outlined in the standard QWK format. OLMS also uses an interesting embedded owner QWKID system to stop messages from being downloaded by the uploading QWK net user. To grant a user net status, go into the "User Editor" and press "N" on the areas that you wish them to have network status to. ╓───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╖ ║ Point Network Compatibility ║ ╙───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╜ OLMS can write netmail in both Hudson and JAM message areas, even if it is addressed to a point. For Hudson, it uses the standard TOPT, FMPT ^A Kludge lines as specified in the FTSC specifications and in JAM it uses the 4D addressing available. For BlueWave packets, you can use the built in netmail addressing functions that are available. However for QWK packets, Netmail should be addressed like this: FROM: PETE ROCCA TO: JOE USER SUBJECT: @1:2401/305.9022 This will insert a message that is destined for "Joe User" at the netmail address of 1:2401/305.9022 If you wish to have the subject inserted into the message base, you can place it on the first line of the message like this: Subject: This program Hey Joe, hope you like this program, seems to be pretty good. When OLMS inserts this message it would look like this: From: Pete Rocca at (1:2401/305) To: Joe User at (1:2401/305.9022) Subj: This program ╓───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╖ ║ Internet <- Fidonet gateway compatibility ║ ╙───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╜ In order for your users to write messages to the Internet easily from their mail reader, you can simply instruct them to post their messages To: UUCP (or INTERNET or GATEWAY) and in the first line of their message, tell them to type "To: whoever@wherever.com". If you have turned on "Gateway Support" and set the "Keep To" flag in the Control Setup -> Sysop area control then OLMS will move the message to your netmail area, and address it to UUCP at the gateway address specified. 21 FROM: PETE ROCCA TO: INTERNET SUBJECT: Hi there! ---------------------------------------------------------------- To: joe.user@theplace.2b.com Hey Joe, hope you like this program, seems to be pretty good. ╓───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╖ ║ Remote Maintenance ║ ╙───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╜ Your users can set many of their parameters directly from their mail readers. OLMS will accept these remote maintenance commands: ADD - Joins the conference that the message was written in DROP - Drops the conference that the message was written in RESET - Resets the message pointer in the conference that the message was written in RESET number - Number of messages back to reset the pointer to in the area that the message was posted KEYWORD keyword word - Adds a keyword to the user keywords listing FILTER filter word - Adds a filter to the user filter listing TWIT twit name - Adds a twit name to the user twit listing KEYWORD -keyword word - Removes a keyword from the user keyword listing FILTER -filter word - Removes a filter from the user filter listing TWIT -twit name - Removes a twit from the user twit name listing REQUEST filename - Requests a file from your FDB REQUEST conf msgnum - Requests the files attached to msgnum in conf 22 REQUEST msgnum - Requests the files attached to msgnum in the current conf Many mail readers will be able to detect this compatibility (at least for the DROP/ADD commands) however these commands can be sent from any mail reader by following these steps: 1) Enter a message in the reader 2) Specify OLMS as the "To:" name 3) Enter the command and parameters (if needed) as the subject Here's an example: From: PETE ROCCA To: OLMS Subj: keyword RemoteAccess Then just save the message normally and upload it as a normal reply, with your other replies. OLMS will automatically take an appropriate action when it 'sees' it. ╓───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╖ ║ Customization ║ ╙───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╜ When registered, you can create your own screens by extracting the CUSTOM.ZIP file into the OLMS directory, or if you have setup different languages, then into the specified screen directory. You can then edit these files with a standard ASCII/ANSI/RIP editor to whatever you wish. The internal colors of prompts are also change- able by editing the file called OLMS.COL, further more, if you wish to redefine the keys used to operate the menus, or disable certain menu selections, you can do this by editing the files MAIN.OPT, MAIN2.OPT and PREF.OPT, and placing them in the same directory as the screens that they apply to. In either registered or unregistered mode, there are a few extra files that can be used to perform certain functions. The help files "*.HLP" can be edited and placed in either the OLMS directory, or the language screen directory. "Forced/new-only" bulletins can be added by placing the file in the OLMS directory, and naming it to have an extension (N). For example to send a welcome bulletin to a user on their first download, you might make a text file called "WELCOME.(N)", and place it in your main OLMS directory. OLMS then checks the date of the file, compares it to the users last download date, and if the file is newer, packs it along with their mail. 23 ╓───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╖ ║ MAINTAIN.EXE - Datafile maintenance ║ ╙───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╜ MAINTAIN is the utility that should be run to delete inactive users and repack the duplicate base down to the proper size. It can be run in an event if you wish, or periodically. It takes only one parameter, and that is the number of days that a user must be inactive to be deleted. For example, if you wanted to delete all the users setups that haven't called in four months, you would specify: MAINTAIN 120 If you do not wish to delete inactive users, just pick 5000 which effectively means over 13 years - which should be plenty of room =) MAINTAIN will also delete any users that are 'marked' as deleted in CONFIG ═══ User Editor. ╓───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╖ ║ License and Disclaimer ║ ╙───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╜ "OLMS" is NOT free, it is being marketed under the "try before you buy" or shareware concept. You are entitled to use OLMS, CONFIG and MAINTAIN for a period up to forty-five (45) days, after which you MUST register or stop using the program. Registration entitles you to use OLMS 2.01 as well as any future versions of the program that may or may not be released, subject to any additional licensing conditions which may be attached. Registration will also allow you to create your own customized screens, add multi-language support, take away the "Unregistered" message at start up, and help to continue to develop this program. (not to mention maintain the legality of this agreement) By running any of the executable programs included, you agree that Pete Rocca, Multiboard Communications Centre nor any affiliates of the above mentioned are responsible for any damage ever experienced, however so created. If you cannot agree to this, then your privilege to use any of these programs is revoked and it becomes illegal for you to execute any programs included with this documentation. You may freely copy and distribute the shareware version of OLMS as long as its original archived contents are not modified in any way. You may NOT distribute any registration keys without the express written consent of Pete Rocca of Multiboard Communications Centre. You may not use a registration key that is not licensed to you by Pete Rocca, or any of the registration sites appointed by Pete Rocca 24 It is illegal to edit, alter, hack, reverse engineer and / or modify any components of the OLMS archive in any manner. If dispute of any issues on legal grounds said above, then governing law of Ontario, Canada will rule. If you agree to all of the above, then you may use these programs. * REMEMBER THAT REGISTRATION IS QUITE INEXPENSIVE FOR ALL YOU GET! * ╓───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╖ ║ Registration ║ ╙───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╜ Please see the enclosed registration forms. REGISTER.CAN - registration form for Canada REGISTER.EUR - registration form for Europe REGISTER.USA - registration form for USA REGISTER.FRM - registration form for anywhere else ╓───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╖ ║ Support ║ ╙───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╜ If you have any questions or comments, you can netmail me at FidoNet address 1:2401/305 (CM,VFC,V32,V42). Registered users will get their replies sent out direct, however, unregistered users will either have to poll my system for responses, or request I route the message back to you. (Sorry, but I have to keep costs down) You can also find me in the RemoteAccess Utilities FidoNet area. The latest version can always be FREQ'd from me with the magic name "OLMS". Also, the beta support team may very well be able to answer your questions also, and may be much closer to you (see below for locations). Also, an Internet site (mcc.uti.com) is now available. You can send your mail to "support@mcc.uti.com" or "pete.rocca@mcc.uti.com". In addition, newest MCC software is available via Internet FTP or Email. FTP: mcs.com (/mcsnet.users/bwolf) Email: fileserv@uti.com, GET OLMS 25 Current Support Sites ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── CANADA Southern Ontario Pete Rocca RemoteAccess 2.02+ Multiboard Communications DESQview 2.63 London, ON V.FC 28,800 (519)660-8981 Worldwide Registration Site Fidonet 1:2401/305 Northern Ontario Brian Craig RemoteAccess 2.02+ Poor Man's Nook Zoltrix 14,400 Sault Ste Marie (705)946-0076 Fidonet 1:222/50 Eastern Ontario John Farrow RemoteAccess 2.02+ Playtime BBS USR vfc 28,800 Kingston, ON (613)546-9242 Fidonet 1:249/111 UNITED STATES Indiana Les Turner RemoteAccess 2.02+ Computer Works Support BBS DESQview/X 2.0 South Bend, IN (219)272-8129 FidoNet 1:227/129 Wisconsin Scott Hansen RemoteAccess 2.02/Pro+ Ye Olde Pawn Shoppe ]I[ DESQview 2.63 Milwaukee, WI USR v34 28,800 (414)649-9361 Fidonet 1:154/750 26 Missouri Tom Stoltz RemoteAccess 2.02/Pro+ Happy Hour RA HST DualStandard Raymore, MO (816)322-1133 Fidonet 1:280/301 Florida Ronnie Toth RemoteAccess 2.02+ Sox! RADIST HQ USR v34 28,800 Hialeah, FL (305)821-3317 Fidonet 1:135/71 New Hampshire John Tetreault RemoteAccess 2.02+ The Lakes Region Gateway v32/v42 14,400 Franklin, NH (603)934-2779 Fidonet 1:132/216 EUROPE Germany David Silver ProBoard Beta Site+ Silverado V.FC 28,800 Heidelberg European Registration Site 49-6221-767992 Fidonet 2:2468/6019 United Kingdom Jon Greaves RemoteAccess 2.02/Pro+ centron.com USR v34 28,800 44-473-273246 Fidonet 2:2501/307 27 ╓───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╖ ║ Error Messages ║ ╙───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╜ Below is a table that references the possible error messages values that you may see. ═════╤════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ Code │ Section = Swapping routines ═════╪════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ 0-x │ Every program has its own return codes. Consult its │ documentation regarding the (x) return code. ═════╤════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ Code │ Section = Swapping routines ═════╪════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ 1-1 │ No space for swapping 1-2 │ Program is too low in memory 4-0 │ Error allocating environment 5-0 │ Error calling swap 5-1 │ Could not return from swap 5-2 │ Could not swap out 6-x │ Error caused during redirection ═════╤════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ Code │ Section = Program being called ═════╪════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ 2-0 │ Not found 2-1 │ Invalid drive 2-2 │ Invalid path 2-3 │ Invalid name 2-4 │ Invalid drive letter 2-5 │ Path too long 2-6 │ Drive not ready ═════╤════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ Code │ Section = Dos error codes ═════╪════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ 3-2 │ File not found 3-3 │ Path not found 3-5 │ Access denied 3-6 │ Invalid handle 3-8 │ Not enough memory ╓───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╖ ║ Common questions and answers ║ ╙───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╜ Q: The system reboots and freezes occasionally? It also sometimes puts a period at the end of the users name when uploading replies A: Make sure that the version of OLMS you have is not a hack or you are not using an invalid key. Safe copies are available from the locations specified in the above support section. 28 Q: I run CONFIG.EXE and it says that SHARE.EXE is not loaded? A: OLMS.EXE requires SHARE.EXE to be loaded for file security, and CONFIG.EXE will refuse to run if it isn't detected. Simply place DEVICE=C:\DOS\SHARE.EXE in your CONFIG.SYS file and it will work. (or use the single node option of CONFIG /NOLOCK) Q: I can't see anything on my local screen when running DESQview or DESQview/X?!? A: Turn on 'virtualize text' for your window setting. Q: Not all of my conferences are showing? A: Make sure that if you have any areas that have groups defined for them, that the MGROUPS.RA file is in the RA directory along with the MESSAGES.RA file. Without the MGROUPS.RA file OLMS cannot be sure which grouped defined areas the user has access to, so all of the areas with anything other than '0' for the Group will not be shown for your message base security. Q: I keep getting a "___ Olms" tagline added to the bottom of the message instead of an echomail "--- Olms"? A: Make sure that the 'Echoinfo = Yes' for the message area in the RACONFIG -> Messages setup. Q: It says that it can't find the DOOR.SYS file? A: Make sure that it is run from the directory that contains the proper drop files. On single line systems, this is C:\RA and usually something like C:\RA\LINE1 or C:\RA\LINE2 for multinode setups. Q: Are there any special keys during the operation of OLMS? A: Yes: Alt-H hangs up the user Alt-C chats with the user Alt-J jumps to dos Up/Down arrows increase or decrease the users time Q: What do the flags mean? A: There are many types of flags that are used in each area: a) All messages p) Personal messages g) General messages (personal and those to "All") k) Keywords applied f) Filters applied w) Include messages written by yourself n) Network status c) Connected to the network 29 F) Forced area B) Blocked area H) Hidden area Q: I see this weird blue square flashing in the top right corner of my screen. A: This is an indicator to you that file access has been denied from OLMS for more than a half a second. It will continue for about 30 seconds or until the files are made available to it. This is to let you know the current situation, so you do not think that your system is 'frozen' or 'hung'. The square will never be displayed to a remote caller. Q: It's not compressing/downloading/decompressing/uploading?!?! A: Make sure that the programs defined in the CONFIG under external programs, are all in the system path. (not just the current dir) And also, check to see if "Swap" is set to "Yes". Q: It seems to pack mail very slow. A: That is probably because the user has either global keywords or global personal on. In this case, each message area is searched and not just the ones that are selected. If the user wishes not to take advantage of these features & pack the mail quickly, just tell them to turn them off in their setups. Q: When I use the metastrings (*N, *B, *P, *F, *G), it says that it can't find the path or file in CONFIG? A: Metastrings are only 'expanded' when OLMS is run, therefore this is just a WARNING that this file or path may not really exist when the actual value of the metastring is 'expanded', if you know that the path will be correct, just ignore this warning. Q: Occassionally I get directories left lying around like "$O$32922" and "$O$5718"... what are they, and why are they there! A: These are temporary directories created by OLMS. They are usually cleaned up no matter how the program exits, however if you ever see one of these directories around, it is safe to delete it. (as long as no one on other nodes are running OLMS of course) Q: When I/users use BlueWave to read a QWK packet, it says that the QWK packet is EMPTY!!! A: Make sure that you have indexes turned on. BlueWave REQUIRES that the QWK packet MUST have indexes, and will not attempt to read it otherwise. (or simply tell them to select the BlueWave packet type and they will have complete BlueWave support) Q: When I watch a download with DSZ or GSZ, it appears to download ok but it returns 'Download Unsuccessful'. A: For some unexplained reason, if you have the environment variable "DSZLOG" setup, it will fail the transfers. Simply create a batch file that temporarily removes the DSZLOG variable from the enviro- nment prior to running OLMS. Q: I get a runtime error #101? A: You probably ran out of disk space in the working directory. 30 Q: I run DSZ on a multiline system, but it refuses to transfer any files. I have DSZPORT setup properly in the batch files too! A: Make sure you remove the *P from the DSZ command line. DSZ will only use the DSZPORT setting if it isn't passed a port number. Q: I use a flag to determine if people can use the download functions on my BBS, but OLMS doesn't respect it during file requests. A: Mail doors cannot look at your menu options to see which are protected and therefore needs the restrictions put on the areas themselves. If you use a flag for your menu download key, simply add that flag to the 'download flags' for each file area. Q: Is there any way to make it not create new JAM bases when posting if there aren't bases already? This can cause problems on my LAN A: Yes, set an enviroment variable entry of SET OLMSSAFE=YES Q: Is there any way to make OLMS look in a different directory for USERS.DAT and MESSAGES.DUP files? This would reduce the network traffic on my LAN considerably. A: Yes, set an enviroment variable called OLMSDATA that points to the directory that contains the information. Q: Is there any way to make OLMS create its work directory in a new location other than the current directory? A: Yes, you can set an enviroment variable called OLMSWORK that tells OLMS where to create its work files. Remember that if you specify a RAM drive, it better be extreamly large, as the work drive must have room to create the packet, _AND_ zip it up on that drive also which is quite large. Even a 400k packet could require near 2000k to process and pack. (about 1200k for the unpacked data, and 800k for PKZIP to work/create the packet with) ╓───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╖ ║ Known limitations ║ ╙───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╜ ■ Only supports 2,000 conferences in the shareware version ■ 64k length of messages (standard FTSC) ■ Requires the HMB to at least be present, even if not used Multiboard is dedicated to making OLMS the premium offline mail system. In the short time that OLMS has been available, it has demonstrated the features, support, attention and stability that is required on todays' high-paced bulletin board systems. 31 ╓───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╖ ║ Acknowledgments ║ ╙───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╜ This program has been tested on MS-DOS 3.3 through 6.22, DESQview 2.40 through 2.63, DESQview/X 1.2 and 2.0, Windows 3.1 to 4.0 beta, WindowsNT 3.x, OS/2 2.0 through OS/2 2.99 beta, and Novell DOS 7.0. Other operating environments should work fine, but they have not been fully tested. Requires at least DOS 3.3 and SHARE.EXE loaded. The JAM message base format is used in "OLMS" and this is the JAM license header... "JAM(mbp) - Copyright 1993 Joaquim Homrighausen, Andrew Milner, Mats Birch, Mats Wallin. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED." The RemoteAccess filebase format, RemoteAccess and RA are (C) Copyright Andrew Milner and Wantree Development, 1993. All rights reserved. PKZIP/PKUNZIP, Copyright PKWARE; ARJ, Copyright Robert K Jung; LZH/ LHA, Copyright Haruyasu Yoshizaki; X00, Copyright Ray Gwinn; BNU, Copyright David Nugent & Unique Computing; DESQview, Copyrighted by Quarterdeck Software; MS-DOS, MS-Windows, Copyrighted by Microsoft Corporation; OS/2, Copyright International Business Machines Corp., Thanks to the public domain swapping utilities that required very little in the way of tweaking, by Thomas Wagner. OLMS Copyrighted by Multiboard Communications Centre and Pete Rocca. Also, a BIG THANKS to my wife Laurie for putting up with me when I'm "on that damn machine". - thanks. Thanks to you, the user, for actually reading to the end of the documentation, and remember, please register, it's cheap! 32