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- /************************************************************************/
- /* install.doc */
- /************************************************************************/
-
- /************************************************************************/
- /* History */
- /* */
- /* 82Dec06 CrT Created. */
- /************************************************************************/
-
- /************************************************************************/
- /* Audience */
- /* */
- /* People with the disks in one hand and this listing in the other, */
- /* wondering, "What next?" */
- /************************************************************************/
-
- /************************************************************************/
- /* Purpose */
- /* */
- /* Step-by-step guide to get Citadel to sit up and bark. */
- /************************************************************************/
-
- Rerun of a paragraph from aaBuyMe.doc:
-
- Citadel is written in BDS C. The distributed system can be
- installed and run without recompilation in most cases. Citadel
- needs CP/M 2.xx, at least 300K of disk space, an auto-answer modem,
- and 64K RAM. (i.e., a 0100 -> CF00 TPA, at least). The source
- files run to about 150K, the .com files to about 100K. In an
- operating system, the message and userlog files together take about
- 100K, and one would normally like about 200K for message text, to
- keep the wraparound time longer than a week.
-
- If that doesn't describe your system, this isn't the file for you.
- Either recycle the disks, or drag out the source code and documentation
- and settle down to some serious hacking...
-
- NOTE: Data files created under Version 1.0 or Version 2.0 will >NOT<
- work with Version 2.1. The configuration file ctdlCnfg.sys also
- differs from that for Version 2.0. Sites running V1.0 or V2.0 should
- start fresh with V2.1.
-
- Still with us? OK. For purposes of getting the basic system working,
- you need to sort out and get acquainted with the following files:
-
- configur.com A special installation program.
- ctdlCnfg.sys (CiTaDeL CoNFiGuration SYStem file.) You will edit your
- local system customizations into this file and then
- feed it to configur.com, which will do all the remaining
- work for you. (Do you believe that?)
- citadel.com This is the actual Bulletin Board ("BB" hereafter) program.
-
- In order to get lost properly, it is very important to have a map.
- Very briefly, the installation steps are:
-
- (1) Edit ctdlCnfg.sys .
-
- (2) Feed ctdlCnfg.sys into configur.com. Configur.com will:
- (A) Create ctdlLog.sys, a file to contain all the userlog entries.
- (B) Create ctdlMsg.sys, a file to contain all the messages.
- (C) Create ctdlRoom.sys, a file to contain all the rooms.
-
- (D) Create ctdlTabl.sys, a file which contains indices to the
- first three files plus stuff derived
- from the ctdlCnfg.sys configuration file.
-
- (3) Run Citadel.com, which read the above files
- and then let you enter messages, create rooms and all manner of
- good things.
-
-
- Three steps. How trivial can you get? But please do study the
- above carefully enough to get a feel for what's going on and an
- understanding of what the major files do.
-
- * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
-
- (1).
- So: go edit ctdlCnfg.sys . It's massively self-documented,
- just work your way through top to bottom putting in values appropriate
- to your system. You may wish to use a small message-file size during
- testing to reduce the length of time configur.com takes to index the
- file. (It reads through the complete file each time it is run.)
- A few gotchas to watch for:
- Really, truly, all the instructions take hex values. If you put
- octal or decimal numbers in, it's not going to work.
- Configur.com is not very bright. It wants to see blanks (not
- tabs or carriage-returns) between and following all the fields it
- reads. On the other hand, it really doesn't care what happens on
- lines which don't start with "#", or on the trailing half of those
- which do. If you end each instruction line with a comment and put
- single blanks between the arguments, as I have, you should have no
- problems on this score. (BASIC programmers: don't worry, the comments
- won't slow the system down. Relax!)
-
-
- (2)
- Run configur.com. Configur.com expects to find ctdlcnfg.sys on
- the default disk in the default userspace. Once it has read this file,
- it will shift to HOMEDISK and HOMEUSER.
- Configur.com is used to rebuild a system as well as install it.
- When it fails to find ctdlMsg.sys, ctdlRoom.sys and ctdlLog.sys, it
- will create them and remind you to initialize them. When it asks you
- if you want to initialize them (and then double-checks on each individual
- file), type a "Y" each time first time through. On subsequent runs,
- you can answer "N", which will leave the three data files untouched,
- only building new indices etc for a new ctdlTabl.sys file. This way
- you can reconfigure the system within reasonable limits without trashing
- all existing messages, rooms etc.
- Configur lists various things as it runs, mostly to convince you
- it hasn't crashed yet. Don't worry particularly unless it seems
- excited about something. In particular, when it lists the modem routines,
- it will list the opcodes of the routines but not the arguments. Cheap
- code? Well, you get what you pay for...
-
- (3)
- Run sysop.com. It will expect to find ctdlTabl.sys on the default
- disk in the current userspace when it is run. It will then expect to
- find everything else on HOMEDISK in HOMEUSER, with the sole exception of
- ctdlMsg.sys, which it will look for on MSGDISK in HOMEUSER. You
- should copy all the .hlp, .blb and .mnu files in the distribution into
- HOMEDISK in HOMEUSER, since Citadel.com will expect to find them
- there. (It won't crash without them, but you'll be missing all
- the automatic hints etc.)
- Citadel.com will delete ctdlTabl.sys after it has
- read it, and will recreate ctdlTabl.sys only when you exit. This is
- because it contains indices to the other three data files, and it
- would not be good to load an out-of-date index file. If
- Citadel.com crashes, leaving you without a ctdlTabl.sys, just run
- configur.com again to recreate it.
- Play around with Citadel.com for awhile: learn to enter messages,
- create rooms, read messages, and so forth. Create several different
- identities, and log them in and out in rotation to see how new
- messages and rooms with new messages are found. (The system is much
- easier to understand with lots of rooms and messages around to
- experiment on!)
-
- When things are clearly working correctly, double-check the
- modem routines and then try running over the modem. You'll need to have
- someone dialing the system up to test that carrier-detect etc are
- working correctly. This will probably be painful. Note that you
- can use "chat mode" to type directly to the modem, bypassing everything
- but the modem routines. You'll probably have to rewrite your little
- modem routines in ctdlCnfg.sys several times before everything works.
-
- If you survive this far... congratulations! and... Welcome!
- oσ═É╤σ!