The TRS 80 Model 100 can perform the function of a MINI-PBBS and does a
good job of it. The program can store 16 active messages and more if the
system has more than one message for one person. The program opens individual
text files for each message under the call sign of the person the message is
for. If a person has more than one message, they are all stored for him in the
same file. In this way the system can hold messges untill it runs out of
memory. The program constantly monitors available directory space and
remaining memory and will not allow any more messages to be entered if it runs
out of either. When someone checks on, his mail is checked and he is informed
if he has any. He then can Read his mail and is reminded to Kill it after he
has read it. There is a onboard HELP and INFO file. The program also gives
local control to the SYSOP to read, kill and print ANY mail. The PBBS is set up
to Receive AUTO-Forwarded messages from a "BIG" PBBS, but Sending has not been
implemented. That requires keeping a large Forwarding list in memory and is not
practical on a small machine of this size.
SETTING UP THE SYSTEM
---------------------
The system will run best on a 32k Mod 100. There is about 20.5k of
remaining memory when the program is running provided there are no other files
in the machine. It will run in a 24k machine but then the memory will only
allow about 13k of available memory.
First do a COLD START on the machine to clear out any routines that may be
still stored in the computer. Then set the Clock to UTC time, the TRS80 clock
is used for all time functions. Edit line 1190 for the times that you want
PAGING disabled.. IFPG>5ANDPG<14 disables paging between 0500 - 1400 UTC. Then
modify line #20 for your Callsign, Name, and Location.
Next go to the Call Sign Look-up table in lines 1130 - 1180 .Here
you may personalize the sytem so that when AB1Q checks in, he gets a "Hello
Dan.." before the welcome message. If he is not in the table he would get a
"Hello AB1Q..". The format here is CALL,Name,MF. The call must be in upper
case (leave out extensions),then name, The MF flag. The MF (Message Forwarding
Flag) is set to 0 for Human contacts and a 1 if the station is a message
forwarding PBBS. This MF FLAG is VERY important. It changes the complextion of
the program, a shorter welcome is sent, no checking is done for mail, and all necessary handshaking are invoked. If a station checks in that has it's MF fla set to 1 then the only command that the program will recognize is the "S"
command. This was done to insure max speed for auto-forwarding. You MUST end
the last DATA statement with END,END,0 .Change all these to suit your needs.
Next assuming your TNC is set up for Basic Packet operation, modify these
parameters as follows and PERM them:
ABAUD 1200 ECHO OFF
MONITOR OFF COMMAND $04
BEACON EVERY 0 NEWMODE ON
RING OFF CHECK 18
CSTAMP OFF USERS 1
AUTOLF ON NUCR OFF
NULF OFF XFLOW ON
TXFLOW ON TRFLOW ON
One note here: if your tnc does not have the NEWMODE command or it does not
return to the CMD: mode when a station disconnects, this program will NOT
work..The tnc HAS to remain in the COMMAND mode. If your TNC does not have the
The reason for PERMing the parameters is so that the system can whether a
power outage. If this occurs the TNC and The Mod100 should resume operation
with no loss of data.
Next Run the program and you will get this display:
MAILBOXACTIVE - WAITING 0/0 Msgs
20545 BYTES FREE 0 CONNECTS TODAY
<P>rint Msgs <R>ead Msgs <E>xit
<S>end Msg <G>o Online <K>ill Msgs
<B>eacon OFF <M>onitor OFF
<C>onok ON ....SELECT...
Here the sysop can read, kill and print ANY messages. The format "0/0 Msgs"
is "YOURS/TOTAL". Hitting a <G> gets you to a built in Terminal program that
allows you to access the tnc for normal contacts as if you were in TELCOM. You
will get this display:
*** ONLINE ***
^D To cmd:
<ESC> to Return
Hit <ESC> to get back to the PBBS
If you are Paged, you will get this display:
W1XXX Wants to chat...
Hit <G> to go online
Then you can chat and when complete hit <ESC> and the person will be put
back into the PBBS.
You as the SYSOP can place messages in the system by hitting <S>end. You
will then be prompted for the Call of the receiver and then told to enter the
message and then to terminate with /EX on a blank line.
Hitting a <B>eacon will load the BEACON TEXT with the "MAIL FOR:" banner
with callsign of any stations presently having mail on the system. The Beacon
period is set to 90 (every 15 mins) and can be changed temporarily by going
ONLINE and manually changing,or changing it permanently by going to line #2080
and changing the "BE EV 90" to suit your needs. The <B>eacon, <M>onitor and
, Who was on when it occured and the time and
date. This is very handy for tracking down bugs and prevents the program from crashing on a BASIC error.
The program will now pretty much take care of itself. All the sysop has to
do is clear out ERRLOG, USELOG,DWNLOG & UPLOG when they get to be prohibitivly large, or the information has been printed or is not needed. The file MESLOG.DO
is the lookup file for who has messages waiting and takes care of itself.
In closing I would like to add that considerable time and effort went into
this program and I am very interested in your comments, questions or
suggestions. I would be very pleased if you could pass this program around,
put it on a "BIG" PBBS. The Model 100 is a great little machine but seems to
suffer from lack of software support. So I would be very pleased if this
program could get the maximum exposure to Packeteers who are using the Mod
100. This program has alot of potential for storing messages in an emergengy
when all the "BIG" PBBS's are down due to lack of power. You could conceivably
set up an emergency PBBS/DIGIPEATER on the front seat of an automobile!!! It's only limited by the imagination.
********* Disk Version *********
The Disk Versions (ONEDR.BBS for 1 Drive System & TWODR.BBS For a 2 Drive
system) operate the same way as the in-memory vesion (PBBS.BA) but have the
added commands <D>ownload, <U>pload and <W>hat. All messages and Up/download
files are stored on disk. In the 2 drive Version messages are stored on drive
0 and up/download files are stored on drive 1. Whenever somenone uploads a
file; the filename is added to INDEX.DO, which is stored on drive 1 (or 0 in
the single drive version). INDEX.DO is initially created by the program on the first upload if it is not already on the disk or whenever someone issues the
<W>hat cmd. INDEX.DO serves as the Download Directory and is sent out whenever
anyone issues the <W>hat cmd. Filenames are stored in a single one column file
like this:
*** DOWNLOAD DIRECTORY ***
TEST.BA
PBBS.BA
You may want to edit the INDEX.DO file occasionally to add explanations of
what's available to download..like this:
*** DOWNLOAD DIRECTORY ***
MASH.BAS - Plays the Theme from "Mash**"; Model 100
FIVE.BAS - Five Classical Tunes; Model 100
RENUM.BAS - Renumbering Utility; Model 100
CW.BAS - Morse Tutoring Program; Model 100
GRID.BAS - Grid Locator for Model 100
ALINER.BAS - Automatic Line Generator for Model 100
RTTY.BAS - RTTY Prog. For Model 100
DPURGE.BAS - Purge Utility for Model 100 W/Disk Video Int.
GATEWY.M02 - Gateway Bulletin for 05/02/86
W5YI15.MAY - W5YI Report for 05/15/86
PBBSDV.BAS - Disk Version of MINI-PBBS for Model 100; Writes Messages to
Drive 0 and Upload/Download Files to Drive 1
Of course, if you place any files in the system locally for download, make
sure they are stored in ASCII. Download will not be possible if stored in
Tokenized Basic (.ba).
In the Disk Version the Call Sign Look-Up table is lines 1160-1210 and the
