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- SYSOP.DOC Copyright (C) 1990 Liberation Enterprises.
- Category and description information for Disk Librarians.
- Program Information for PCBoard Sysops.
-
-
- * Sysops/Disk Librarians please note that this release of The Liberator
- does have counters, which display the number of times/hours used, but
- that the program does not 'expire' at a certain number. The information
- is only dislpayed to give the user some idea how useful the program has
- been.
-
- GENERAL INFORMATION
-
- Program name : The Liberator [PCBoard Automation System for Telix].
- Version : 2.31.
- Developer/Price: Liberation Enterprises; $24.95 registration.
- Online filename: LIB231.xxx (xxx for compression type; ZIP).
- Category : MS-DOS Communications Programs/Utils. Preferably in
- the same area as Telix itself.
- Requirements : MS-DOS 2.0 or greater/compatible computer, 2 360K
- drives, or 1 - 1.2 Meg drive. Hard drive recom-
- mended. Telix v3.12 or greater. Telix, with The
- Liberator fully loaded requires about 250K of RAM.
- Description : The Liberator v2.3 automates PCBoard BBS sessions.
- Totally unattended operation, right from dialing to
- logoff. Upload and download files on PCBoard or in
- ProDoor, send/collect messages from Qmail v2/v3 or
- MarkMail doors, deposit/withdraw time in the ProBank,
- and even set up your own Custom Commands for special
- jobs. User-friendly interface; no knowledge of Telix
- SALT necessary. Telix v3.12 or greater required.
-
-
- SYSOP INFORMATION
-
- Thank you for helping to distribute The Liberator on your BBS!
- The Liberator will help you and your users to make the most of PCBoard
- and all its major DOOR programs. Absolute beginners right up to PCBoard
- experts can make excellent use of the program. The more Liberated users
- you have calling your BBS, the more total users you will be able to
- handle before expanding to more nodes!
-
- How The Liberator Can Help You as a PCBoard Sysop:
-
- + Support for PCBoard, ProDoor, Qmail v2 doors, Qmail v3 doors, MarkMail
- doors, ProLogon, and ProBank are built in, plus 'plug-in' iNet support
- (the program also allows the user to carry out any other type of
- logon/logoff). Custom commands/scripts can also be incorporated into
- sessions to enable just about any job to be automated, such as getting
- mail automatically without a Mail Door, capturing specific bulletins,
- NEWS, etc. Support for multiple sessions without disconnecting,
- and/or calling multiple PCBoards without intervention is also built
- in.
-
- + The automatic installation program not only helps ensure The Liberator
- is installed properly, but also checks each file's date/time/size and
- calculates a checksum for each file to detect corruption (correct
-
-
- The L i b e r a t o r v2.31 SYSOP.DOC - Page 2
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- checksums were hardcoded in the installation program at release date,
- for comparison). This is not a foolproof way to detect tampering, or
- a bad upload, but it does cut down substantially on the chances of it
- going unnoticed.
-
- If you wish to check the program before posting it for downloading,
- simply switch to the directory where the unpacked Liberator v2.31
- files are (*.SLC, *.00?, INSTALL.EXE) and type:
- "INSTALL /check" (without the quotes).
-
- + A tutorial is provided to carry new users through not only the steps
- necessary to set up The Liberator, but also: how to set up PCBoard,
- explaining what protocols, conferences, DOORS are, etc., how to set up
- a Mail Door and Offline Reader program, how to get help from the
- message bases (conferences, echomail, reading/leaving messages, etc).
- This information will hopefully cut down on the number of questions
- you have to answer from new users, and get them up and running in the
- fastest possible time.
-
- + All your users will become PCBoard experts instantly with The Liber-
- ator! The program wastes no time reading PCBoard menus and help
- screens, and trying to figure out what to do next. The Liberator
- types as fast as the fastest touch typist, and knows PCBoard and its
- doors inside out.
-
- + Fast error-free sessions get Liberated users on and off in the fastest
- time possible, enabling you to handle more total users. Qmail v2/v3
- and MarkMail doors are fully supported, which should help encourage
- users to do their messaging offline. Instructions on setting up these
- doors, and general information on setting up an offline reader are
- included in the tutorial.
-
- + Dial Starting times can be set and saved for each automated Liberator
- session, so users can carry out sessions in the off hours, meaning
- less of a 'prime time' crunch on your BBS.
-
- + Since The Liberator allows users to perform uploads almost effortless-
- ly (and automatically, while doing something more interesting, or
- sleeping), the program should help to encourage more uploads from
- users.
-
- + Transfer your Echomail automatically! Many Sysops use The Liberator
- to transfer their mail every day. The 'repeat downloading' feature is
- especially useful to Sysops who collect large amounts of mail
- requiring more than one download.
-
- + Collect files for your BBS automatically! Define commands to send to
- another PCBoard (F)ile Directories, N)ew Files, L)ocate, Z)ippy Scan,
- etc.) and The Liberator will create a Download List from the resuls of
- the commands, to be used in the same session! Download every file on
- the list, or run your editor to selectively remove filenames before
- the download. You can even send multiple commands in multiple
-
-
- The L i b e r a t o r v2.31 SYSOP.DOC - Page 3
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- conferences, and the correct conference will be joined before
- downloading!
-
- + The Liberator is supported on many networks, including (at 2.3 release
- date): EchoNet, HyperLink, Intelec, InterLink, NorthAmeriNet,
- RelayNet and SmartNet. If you are asked anything about the program,
- just refer the user to myself (Wayne Duff) for help. I monitor echoed
- Communications, Shareware, and/or Telix support conferences from all
- the above networks (and any network gating with any of the above).
- NorthAmeriNet (out of CRS in Toronto) also has a Liberator support
- conference, for direct support.
-
- A Note On Prompts
-
- Do the standard PCBoard prompts need changing? As a Sysop, you can help
- users get set up faster, and with the least amount of work, by using the
- standard PCBoard prompts as defined by Clark Development or the DOOR
- developer (this applies to any script/automator, and not just The Lib-
- erator). Most of the prompts The Liberator watches for are easily
- configurable through the Command File Manager interface provided, if
- necessary. However, due to the complete support of PCBoard and its
- doors, The Liberator now 'looks' for almost 50 prompts/messages al-
- together.
-
- Getting all these prompts, if you had changed all of them, and plugging
- them into The Liberator would be a fairly large job... especially for a
- newcomer. Other scripts (Telix or otherwise) which don't have an
- interface may require re-programming, which not all script users are
- able to do. Thus, on behalf of all script users, it would be ap-
- preciated if as a Sysop, you could take these factors into considera-
- tion, and weigh the benefits before changing any standard PCBoard
- prompts. If you have few automated script users on your BBS, it may not
- create any major difficulties to redefine a few prompts/messages, but I
- feel it will be beneficial to at least weigh the options, and be aware
- of script users.
-
- I hope the program helps you, and your users to make the most out of
- your PCBoard. Why not sit back and let The Liberator do the work for
- you!
-
-