Article-I.D.: sftig.594
Posted: Thu Sep 26 10:33:53 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 28-Sep-85 07:30:25 EDT
Distribution: net
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Summit, NJ
Lines: 16


	I need information on bulletin board system (BBS) software.
I've been off the net for a period of months and the need for this software
just recently came up so I haven't been following information on the net
on this subject except for the last few articles.
	I'm sure this subject has been thoroughly aired on the nets before.
Does anyone have an up-to-date comparison of the various alternatives
comparing features and price? It would also be helpful if people responding
could provide addresses of the software suppliers involved.
	I believe there is a book available on BBS systems, but I have no
idea of the title or author of this book.
	At present I'm working with an IBM PC and an S-100 system with
a Z-80 under CP/M. I can also use programs written in C.

					Joe McGhee
					sftig!jmg

Article-I.D.: brl-tgr.1850
Posted: Wed Oct  2 03:06:10 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 5-Oct-85 07:41:47 EDT
Sender: news@brl-tgr.ARPA
Lines: 10


I researched the subject pretty thoroughly and decided an TCOMM, a little
known commercial package available for $149 from Larry Jordan Associates
in Gaithersburg, MD.  It is similar to RBBS but is written in C, has a good
manual, and is a joy from the SYSOP side (and important point!).

If you'd like to look at the system in operation, we are running one to
discuss the new version of WordPerfect (4.1) at 301/889-7895, 300/1200/2400.

-r

Article-I.D.: hadron.36
Posted: Wed Oct  2 20:01:27 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 6-Oct-85 05:12:21 EDT
References: <1850@brl-tgr.ARPA>
Reply-To: klr@hadron.UUCP (Kurt L. Reisler)
Organization: Hadron, Inc., Fairfax, VA
Lines: 30

In article <1850@brl-tgr.ARPA> wilkes@HOPKINS-EECS-BRAVO.ARPA (Richard P. Wilkes) writes:
>
>I researched the subject pretty thoroughly and decided an TCOMM, a little
>known commercial package available for $149 from Larry Jordan Associates
>in Gaithersburg, MD.  It is similar to RBBS but is written in C, has a good
>manual, and is a joy from the SYSOP side (and important point!).
>
>If you'd like to look at the system in operation, we are running one to
>discuss the new version of WordPerfect (4.1) at 301/889-7895, 300/1200/2400.
>
>-r

Ah, but FIDO/FIDONET is FREE.  The user interface is standard accross all
500+ FIDOs world-wide, provides E-mail capability and the SYSOPS form a
support network (complete with weekly newletter, distributed via FIDONET)
that can not be beat.


=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
                     _
The World's First   /  \		Whose dog is that?
   BBS Network     /|oo \		I don't know, but the disk is yours.
   * FidoNet *    (_|  /_)
                   _`@/_ \    _
                  |     | \   \\
                  | (*) |  \   ))
     ______       |__U__| /  \//
    / Fido \       _//|| _\   /
   (________)     (_/(_|(____/ (jm)
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Article-I.D.: hplabsd.1853
Posted: Tue Oct  8 15:59:30 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 11-Oct-85 07:24:33 EDT
References: <1850@brl-tgr.ARPA> <36@hadron.UUCP>
Organization: Hewlett Packard Labs, Palo Alto CA
Lines: 6

> In article <1850@brl-tgr.ARPA> wilkes@HOPKINS-EECS-BRAVO.ARPA (Richard P. Wilkes) writes:
> >
> Ah, but FIDO/FIDONET is FREE.  The user interface is standard accross all

And that user interface loses.  FIDO is great, except for that, but that's
a VERY important issue for many people.  

Article-I.D.: brl-tgr.2049
Posted: Thu Oct 10 17:49:04 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 12-Oct-85 07:36:47 EDT
Sender: news@brl-tgr.ARPA
Lines: 3

Ah, close to heaven.  Maybe Tom Jennings could be convinced to split
FIDO up that way.
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Article-I.D.: brl-tgr.2034
Posted: Wed Oct  9 22:35:53 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 12-Oct-85 07:59:29 EDT
Sender: news@brl-tgr.ARPA
Lines: 20

>> Ah, but FIDO/FIDONET is FREE.  The user interface is standard accross all

>And that user interface loses.  FIDO is great, except for that, but that's
>a VERY important issue for many people

One way to do the user interface would be to let the user's computer present
the interface to him and let the BBS simply serve as a database server.
That would solve the problem of having to learn a new interface when you
call a new system.  I've called many BBS's and found that many of the 
interfaces are fairly similar, but the key mappings and number of levels
the user must go through to access a given message base  are almost always
different.

If someone could develop a 'server' interface (with data compression and
error correction) BBS systems would be even more popular than they are today.
There is already some work going on in this area, I'll try to answer any
questions people have about the system I know about.

					- Ralph
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Article-I.D.: hplabsd.1858
Posted: Mon Oct 14 17:51:11 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 15-Oct-85 20:01:42 EDT
References: <2034@brl-tgr.ARPA>
Organization: Hewlett Packard Labs, Palo Alto CA
Lines: 14

> >> Ah, but FIDO/FIDONET is FREE.  The user interface is standard accross all
> 
> >And that user interface loses.  FIDO is great, except for that, but that's
> >a VERY important issue for many people
> 
> One way to do the user interface would be to let the user's computer present
> the interface to him and let the BBS simply serve as a database server.

I am told by the sysop of the FIDO in the front room of my house that this
is being done, with FIDO, not by Tom Jennings.
-- 
  ....!hplabs!faunt	faunt%hplabs@csnet-relay.ARPA
HP is not responsible for anything I say here.  In fact, what I say here
may have been generated by a noisy telephone line.

Article-I.D.: kepler.295
Posted: Wed Oct 16 02:33:38 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 17-Oct-85 08:01:22 EDT
References: <2034@brl-tgr.ARPA>
Reply-To: mojo@kepler.UUCP (Morris Jones)
Organization: MicroPro Int'l Corp., San Rafael, CA
Lines: 24

Ralph likes dial-up systems that require smart terminals -- move the user
interface to the users PC.

Yeah, but ...

Not much makes me angrier than a system that I can't call from my TeleVideo
925 terminal, or my CP/M system running MEX, or a Model 100 from a bus
station, or the UNIX system from work, or a TI Silent Terminal from my
girlfriend's lab, or any of the hundreds of other dumb systems that are
around.

PLEASE don't build systems that require (a) special software and (b) only
run on an IBM or an Apple or a Commodore.

If you're intent on building such a beast, at least make the protocols
public domain, and offer some sample source code to talk to it.  Maybe
I can suffer without my TeleVideo 925.



-- 
Mojo
... Morris Jones, MicroPro Product Development
{ptsfa,hplabs,glacier,lll-crg}!well!micropro!kepler!mojo

Article-I.D.: brl-tgr.2179
Posted: Wed Oct 16 10:33:52 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 18-Oct-85 20:45:06 EDT
Sender: news@brl-tgr.ARPA
Lines: 27


	Ralph likes dial-up systems that require smart terminals -- move the
	user interface to the users PC.

	Yeah, but ...

	Not much makes me angrier than a system that I can't call from my 
	TeleVideo 925 terminal, or my CP/M system running MEX, or a Model
	100 from a bus...


I'm sorry, I should have clearly stated that this would not be the ONLY
interface, just that it would be provided for those who had enough
compute power to run a user interface on their home PC.  I had envisioned
providing a special 'account' (say with the userid 'server' at all 
installations) which would start up the server and then go through the
user authentication process.

Something like this coule be done today, except that most BBS's don't have
error correction, which would be useful if you couldn't actually see what
queries were being passed back and forth.

The protocol would have to be public domain in order to allow for the
development of inplementations for as many computers as possible.

					- Ralph
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