Light ROM 1

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ Light ROM 1 / LIGHT-ROM 1 (Amiga Library Services)(1994).iso / ffdisks / d920.lha / BBSGuard / BBSGuard.doc < prev next >

Wrap

Text File | 1993-10-04 | 13KB | 284 lines

This program is NOT public domain. This program is copyright. You may distribute the program freely so long as there is no charges for the program. Anything above the cost of the media which it is copied onto or the normal user fee of a bulletin board system is not allowed. This documentation must accompany the executable program. No commercial use of this program is allowed without prior written agreement from the author (me). (You can supply it with your BBS software. Just don't use it as a selling point and make sure this file is included with the program.) October 1992 © Darrell Grainger BBSGuard v2.03 © Oct 1992 - Darrell Grainger ------------------------------------------- This program was originally written in SAS/C but as a way of learning 68000 assembler, I have re-written the program in assembler. Usage: BBSGuard [-b##][-c##][-d##][-g][-l][-n][-r##][-s##][-t##][-v] Note: - don't put a space between the option and any numbers. for example: '-b10' is correct. '-b 10' is wrong. - make sure there is a space between the options. for example: 'BBSGuard -b10-l' is wrong. 'BBSGuard -b10 -l' is correct. Default: BBSGuard -b10 -c30 -d0 -r5 -s10800 -t10 -------------------------------------------------------------------- If you like and use this program and would like to receive future updates, please send a donation to: D.A.Grainger 48 Wheeler Ave. Toronto, ON M4L 3V2 Canada A donation of $5 cheque or money order would be appropriate. Suggestions for the program can also be sent to the same address or log onto Chaotic Knights BBS at (416) 272-1860. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Option What it does ------ ------------ -b When the phone rings I keep a count of the number of rings. If I just kept track of the rings it would add up the rings of the first caller, and the second, and third, etc. until the count reached the maximum and rebooted the computer. So I had to have some way of knowing when the first caller stopped then I could reset the ring count. The time between rings when someone is calling is usually five seconds. This may vary from area to area. If the time is greater than five seconds, we know that the first person quit ringing (hopefully because the BBS answered the phone). If the time is greater than ten seconds then we can be positive that the caller has stopped ringing the phone. The default for -b is ten. If you find the time between when a ring stops and the next one starts, in your area, is greater then ten (or close to it) then you might want to increase the -b option. Default: -b10 -c When the phone rings too many times or a carrier is present too long then I assume the BBS has crashed and attempt to reboot the computer. Before I actually reboot I will flash all screens on and off. The -c option indicates how long, in seconds, that I will flash the screen before rebooting. Default: -c30 -d You may want to run BBSGuard right away (if you are using the -v, -g and -n options you might want to run BBSGuard at the start of your s:Startup-Sequence). If the BBS takes a while to get ready and answer the phone you DON'T want BBSGuard monitoring the phone for unanswered rings. This option will delay BBSGuard, in seconds, from checking the ringing or carrier. Default: -d0 -g If an Guru Meditation occurs the computer usually sits at the flashing Alert message. Using the -g option will stop the Alert from coming up. Instead the computer will go to the warning stage. This is when the screen flashes. At this time, you have -c seconds to abort the reboot. If you press the left mouse button the system will suspend the task. If you do nothing the computer will reboot. Note: I disable all Alerts so any program that uses Alert instead of Requesters will cause the system to reboot. Alerts are only supposed to be used if the system is really messed up or low on memory. Programmers that use Alerts as Requesters are lazy. -l Since you don't see BBSGuard after it is written you might want to know when the phone is ringing (and that BBSGuard is counting it). The -l option will cause BBSGuard to flash the LED as the phone rings. -n If a requester comes up the system might sit at a stand still. If you want to automatically CANCEL all requesters then set the -n option. If a System Requester comes up this will choose CANCEL and it will try to go for the Guru Meditation so the -g option is recommended when you use the -n option. -r The option which sets the number of rings that will reboot the computer. There is a warning of -c seconds before the reboot. A setting of -r0 will disable check for ringing. Default: -r5 -s The option which sets the number of seconds of carrier detect. If the carrier lasts WAY too long then it could be possible that the modem crashed or that someone got stuck in a 'door' of the BBS. Remember to set this higher then the maximum user time. If your CoSysop has unlimited time then you might want to disable this with a setting of -s0. Default: -s10800 (3 hours) -t This sets the time a requesters will remain up before the -n option automatically cancels the requester. This gives you a chance to choose something other then cancel in case you are there and don't want it to cancel. -v If this option is set then BBSGuard will check all mounted volumes. If any are validating then BBSGuard will pause until the volume has finished validating. If you want to abort this part then hold the left mouse button down. Notes: - You can quit BBSGuard by running it a second time. The screen will flash once when BBSGuard quits. Be sure the screen flashes. If the phone is ringing BBSGuard might not quit just keep trying. - If the maximum carrier detect time or the maximum number of rings is reached BBSGuard will go into the warning phase. If -c is set to zero then the computer will reboot immediately otherwise all screens will flash as the timer counts down. - the A1000 does not have the RI pin connected. On the A1000 this status bit is for the printer SELect only. On the A500 A2000/A3000 the status bit is used by printer SELect and modem Ring Indicator. Adding the circuitry to connect the serial port RI pin to the CIA so we can read RI status is fairly simply. Write me if you want the instructions to make your A1000 work like the A2000 serial port. - the RI line of the serial port is connected to the SEL line of the parallel port. Selecting and deselecting the printer will seem like the phone is ringing to this program. - If you are using ParNet then the handshaking of ParNet uses the SEL line. This means that BBSGuard will see a change in the RI line and think the phone is ringing. As it checks to see if the phone is actually ringing it will eatup CPU time and slow everything down. For this reason, if you are using ParNet and BBSGuard you should use the -r0 option and not bother checking for ringing. --------------------------------------------------------------------- HISTORY A friend needed a program what would monitor the carrier detect line. If there was a carrier detect this program would then monitor the line and time how long the carrier was detected for. By default the program would reboot the computer after 11600 seconds (3 hours). version 2.03 improvements ------------------------- - fixed a bug with AmigaDOS 1.3 and the -n option. version 2.02 improvements ------------------------- - The -t option was added so you have a chance to choose something other than CANCEL when a requester comes up. version 2.01 improvements ------------------------- - The -n option now works with AmigaDOS 2.0. I was originally programming in AmigaDOS 1.3 and failed to implement 2.0 cancel requesters. - There is no longer a window that opens on the Workbench. To see if the phone is ringing I have added the -l option. - I use the Wait() functions and an interrupt handler to make the program go to sleep until something happens, i.e. ring, carrier detect, guru, etc. - The -v option is new to version 2.01. - The program opens no window. Takes less memory and can be quit from remote. - No need for -a, -p, or -t options. No long have a window to activate (-a). Have improved the timing routines is no longer need -p. Have learned how to make the program go into 'Waiting' so delays between carrier checks are not necessary. version 1.25 improvements ------------------------- - If a system Requester occurs the system will sometimes not reboot on the failure to answer (ring detect). The -n option will disable all of the requesters so even the System Requester will CANCEL (this causes a Guru Meditation so the -g option is recommended with this). version 1.24 improvements ------------------------- - added routines to disable Guru Meditations. If a Guru Meditation occurs and the -g option was enabled, the system will automatically reboot rather then sit at the flashing red Guru Meditation. version 1.23 improvements ------------------------- - added a self reboot feature. The program will no longer generates a requester that causes "Reboot1.1" to reboot the computer. This makes BBSGuard standalone. - added the -C option so you can have an abort before the thing reboots. When the program is about to reboot the title to the window will change to the "Double click here to abort". -C will determine how long you have to abort the reboot. Default is 30 seconds. During the abort/reboot period all screens will flash until you abort or the computer reboots. Pressing the left mouse button from ANYWHERE will abort the reboot. During ring detect the abort simply sets the ring count back to zero. During the carrier detect the abort resets the counter of carrier detect seconds back to -S## seconds left. version 1.22 improvements ------------------------- - made the check for time between rings programmable. If the delay between rings is too long we should assume this is a new caller and reset the count of how many rings. Default = 10 seconds. If the time from start of last ring to start of next ring is greater then 10 seconds the ring count will reset. This is the -B option. version 1.21 improvements ------------------------- - found there was a timing problem during the ring detect on some phone lines so I made the delay time between ring checks programmable. This is option P. Default = 75 (75/50 = 1.5 seconds). This default is new and should work on all phone lines. Some phone lines will allow you to increase the delay. Try setting the delay to 100, run the program, make the phone ring and see if it misses any of the rings. - While I was at it I made the delay between checking for carrier programmable as well. The bigger this number the less slow down for the user online BUT the long the delay should you wish to quit the program. version 1.2 improvements ------------------------ - added a delay option so they program can be made to wait for the BBS to power up and initialize. - added the -r0 option so the program can disable ring detect. No use in wasting CPU time checking for a ring that will not be there. - reset the ring counter if there is a 10 second pause between rings. I found that the phone rings every 7 to 8 seconds so if there is a ten second pause it must be a new caller. This means that ONE caller must let the phone ring -R times (default = 5). Don't set that too high or this option is pointless. version 1.1 improvements ------------------------ - optimized code to waste less time when checking for a ring. Program now goes to sleep for 2 seconds every loop of the ring detect routine. A ringing phone lasts for just over 2 seconds. If the delay is longer then 2 seconds there is a good chance the program will miss some rings. With a 2 second delay I have only noted it missing the first ring and then only when the first ring is a partial ring (less then 2 seconds). version 1.01 improvements ------------------------- - added a check for the phone ringing and the BBS not answering. If the phone rings unanswered for too long then obviously the BBS has crashed.