NEW18A.TXT

38.1 KB 255e36525a6ce63d…
Changes made for Telegard version 1.8a :
==========================================

 =============================================================
==  PLEASE READ THIS THOROUGHLY FOR IMPORTANT INFORMATION!!  ==
 =============================================================

== - A reminder.  Any string in Telegard (just about) can be set  - ==
== - to NULL by entering " " at the prompt, and then answering    - ==
== - Yes to the "Set to NULL string? " question.  This is a *big* - ==
== - safeguard against hitting <CR> by mistake, etc...            - ==

Note 1: MiniTerm is temporarily without upload or download
        capabilities.  Don't worry - they'll all be back in the next
        version; I just didn't have time to implement them in the
        rush to get this thing released.  For the small percentage of
        you SysOp's that actually use the stupid thing, just switch
        to Telix/Procomm/etc for a little while.

  ******8888******8888******8888******8888******8888******8888******8888******
  88                                                                        88
  **    NOTE!!!  No internal protocols are provided with Telegard as of     **
  88    Version 1.8a!  You *MUST* have DSZ.EXE somewhere in your DOS PATH   88
  **    to be able to have XModem or YModem!  You can get a copy from just  **
  88    about any BBS around!                                               88
  **                                                       -- Eric          **
  88                                                                        88
  ******8888******8888******8888******8888******8888******8888******8888******


>>> Note: This listing is chronologically backwards... (IE: Read it
>>> from the end to the beginning!)
>>>
>>>    "--"    -- a bug-fix
>>> "****>"    -- added features
>>> ">>>>>"    -- something YOU NEED TO UPDATE for Telegard to work!!
>>>               In other words, SOMETHING *VERY* IMPORTANT!!



                               >>>> PREVIEW <<<<
   ------------------------===>> Version  1.9a <<===------------------------
                               >>>> PREVIEW <<<<

        Some kind of system that will combine random ANSIs, week-day
        ANSIs, time-of-day ANSIs, ACS-sensitive ANSIs all into one,
        easy-to-use system.

        Data files containing UL/DL batch queue information.  Will
        save some memory up.

        Data file CDIR.DAT containing a central directory of ALL
        files in the system.  This will drammatically increase the
        "S:earch for filespec" and many other commands.  ESPECIALLY
        the "Search for duplicate files" thing when uploading files.

        Message base additions: Carbon copy, message-threading,
        message dump-site.

        *Complete* Wildcat! CALLINFO.BBS and PC-Board PCBOARD.SYS and
        PCBOARD.DAT door-support.

        Many other little things, as usual!...
                   ~~~~~~


   ------------------------===>> Version 1.8a <<===-------------------------

                 *\                                           /*
                ***>__MAJOR_THINGS_CHANGED_FOR_THIS_VERSION__<***
                 */   ~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~~~~   \*

   -- First of all, note that most of the "bug-fixes" included in
      this text file (denoted by "--") were bugs introduced DURING
      Beta-testing, and were also REMOVED during Beta-testing.

****> "Generally major" things:

      - Vastly powerful security system called "ACS" - Access
        Condition String.  ACS is now a "Telegard global standard"
        (used everywhere in Telegard) for describing the conditions
        under which a user has access to something.  It is used in
        the message bases, file bases, text-file bases, menus, menu
        commands, and protocols.  Access conditions include age, DSL,
        SL, AR flags, AC flags, file points, user number, gender, and
        many others.  Refer to "ACS.DOC" for more information.

      - Color-filter system.  All that BC.EXE does, and much more,
        all *internal*!  Saves disk space, and increases speed of
        display noticably.

      - Up to 9999 users are now allowed.  This breaks the old
        barrier of 500 users, maximum.

      - REZIP utility, allowing you to "re-ZIP" all of your ZIP files
        from version 0.92 to 1.01.  It's not just limited to ZIP
        files, of course.  There are ways to update between certain
        versions of ARC, LZH, etc...  (PLEASE!  USE THE "ZIP"
        STANDARD!!  It's the best!).  You can either use a
        REZIP.EXE-style external utility, or have Telegard do it
        (unZIP, then reZIP... then add comment-field back in.  Having
        Telegard do it is a lot slower, though).  All of this stuff is
        accessible through a command with command-keys "AR".  Just go
        "//\\AR" to execute it.

****> A brief re-cap of most major data file changes:

      In P:System Config:
      - All the old "General SL settings" have been converted to the
        ACS system.  This includes such things as "Full SysOp", "See
        passwords remotely", "Send anonymous mail", "No
        upload/download ratio", etc.

      In the message bases:
      - Longer base descriptions allowed (40 characters)
      - ACS for (1.) General access (2.) Posting and (3.) MCI posting
        is now configurable
      - Up to 30000 messages per message base are now allowed, as
        opposed to the measily 200 from before!
      - A new anonymous type: "Any Name".  Allows users to post
        messages with ANY "name" they want to in the "Name:" field
      - Password length doubled to 20 characters
      - Message bases can be flagged for "unhidden" status.  This
        means they are *visible* to users not having access to them,
        but the users cannot change to them

      In the file bases:
      - Longer base descriptions allowed (40 characters)
      - Upload paths now allowed (path where uploads are received)
      - ACS for (1.) General access (2.) Uploading and (3.) Finding
        out who uploaded files in the base is now configurable
      - *.DIR files (containing actual file lists) may now be placed
        IN THE DOWNLOAD PATHS of the file bases.  This is completely
        configurable... because it is only useful on the rare
        occasion.
      - GifSpecs - This will AUTOMATICALLY place the resolution and
        number of colors of a GIF picture file into the actual file
        description, whenever a GIF is uploaded.  Also, when
        "V:iewing" *.GIF picture files, the same information is
        displayed (for those SysOps who are too *lazy* to go into the
        F:ile base configuration and hit one lousy key!).  Also,
        there is a command to add GifSpecs to all existing GIF
        picture files, without having to reupload them.  Read on, and
        see it below.

      In events:
      - ACS events are now allowed, by using the "A" event type.
        This allows only *certain* users on for the duration of the
        event.  Read on below!

      In the menus:
      - First, in the actual menu configuration:
        - Up to 3 titles (in Generic menus) may now be used
        - Generic Sub-titles are allowed (see the menu-editor docs)
        - Menu security requirements have been switched over to ACS.
        - Help-levels can be "forced".  This takes place of the old "H"
          menu flag (which was limited, anyway).
        - Number of new menu flags:
            (C):Clears the screen before displaying the Generic menu
            (D):Doesn't center the Generic menu title(s)
            (N):No menu prompt is displayed (for those menus which
                have the menu prompt right in the ANSI, or whatever)
            (P):Pause before displaying menu (to be used hand-in-hand
                with the "C" flag to ensure the user can read
                information before the menu is redisplayed - which
                clears the screen.  Note - can also be used in
                conjunction with ANSI menus that clear the screen
                themselves).
      - Secondly, in the actual commands:
        - Command security requirements have been switched over to
          ACS.  This is an *incredibly*, **vastly** more powerful
          system than before.  MUCH MUCH MUCH more is possible now.
        - MString length increased to 50 characters.
        - Commands now can be either
            (1.) Hidden - in which case they are NEVER displayed, not
                 even to users who have access to them, and
            (2.) Unhidden - in which case they are ALWAYS displayed,
                 even to users who do not have access to them.  (Note
                 that if the users do NOT have access, the
                 command-letters are displayed in the
                 command-letter-bracket color, thus alerting the user
                 that they DO NOT have access to it).

****> The sorting comamnd now utilizes several different algorhythms
      to sort directories, depending on how the files are arranged.
      This increases the sorting time dramatically.  For example: In
      one case, Telegard took 90 seconds with the old routines to
      sort a 250-file directory.  This is unforgivably, ridiculously
      slow.  The new routines sorted that exact same directory in 5
      seconds.  That's a 1800% increase in speed!
****> When using the "L:ist" command in the file section, Telegard
      will show "xxx files, xxxxxxx bytes total" after the entire
      list is displayed.
****> WFC Menu batch files, similar to Global batch files.  When the
      "1".."9" keys are pressed at the WFC Menu, batch files called
      "WFCBATx.BAT" are executed.
   -- Bug in color-configuration is fixed.  When color-configuration
      files have space-characters with backgrounds other than black
      (red/blue/etc.) now, the whole line now changes background
      color.
   -- Problems with ANSI color codes being displayed to **NON-ANSI**
      users have been resolved.
   -- A display bug in the 12-line window has been fixed.  "CSTS" flag
      indicators reinstated in the 12-line window, also.  Meanings:
        C:Automatic chat-buffer open ON.
        S:Seperate chat-buffering ON.
        T:Trapping activity ON.
        S:Seperate trapping ON.
      If a flag is DARK GRAY, it is OFF.  If it is BRIGHT CYAN, it is
      used on EVERY user (automatic chat-buffering and global trapping
      only).  If the flag is BRIGHT WHITE, it is on for that
      particular user.
   -- "To:" field appears in the SysOp log now.
****> ALT-J can be used to shell to DOS.
   -- Several bugs in the InfoForm questionairre system resolved.

   ------------------------===>> Version 1.7a9 <<===------------------------

   -- Problems with ACS events "happening", even when in-active, have
      been fixed.

   -- Problems with having *over* 39 file bases have been eliminated.
      That's the last we'll see of THOSE problems.

****> Two new commands for the InfoForm questionairre system:

        ";K": Erases ("kills") the answer file currently being made.
              This is useful for questions such as "Do you want to
              answer this questionairre? ".

        ";Qxxxxxxxx": Calls a new questionairre file and "executes"
              it in a normal manner.  All answers are output to the
              original questionairre answer file.  This is
              *extremely* useful.  For example, you could have
              "NEWUSER.INF" call "ADDBBS.INF", if the user says they
              run a BBS.  And all answers are output to "NEWUSER.ASW"
              still, allowing you to just hit "-" in the user editor,
              instead of having to look for "ADDBBS.ASW" too.  There
              is no real limit to the number of "questionairre calls"
              you can make.

   ------------------------===>> Version 1.7a7 <<===------------------------

   -- The message-editor used to say "Aborted." every once in awhile,
      spuriously (and mess up your message, usually).  That's
      fixed.....
****> Two new Online SysOp information windows have been added to
      replace the old one.  One window is five lines long, and
      contains most of the user's "numerical" data.  The other is a
      whopping 11 lines long, and includes things such as name,
      address, phone number, city & state, etc.  Also included in the
      11-line window are today's, and the last two days, of ZLOG
      information (# ULs/DLs, posts, e-mail, feedback, etc, etc).
      Switch between windows by pressing "F2", and turn the windows
      on/off by pressing "SHIFT" and "F2".  This replaces "SHIFT" and
      "F4" from before.
****> The 500 maximum user barrier has been broken!  Telegard now
      supports up to 9999 users.
****> You may now specify longer bulletin filenames by using the
      "Bulletin prefix filename" string in the "H:Miscellaneous"
      section of the "P:System Config".  Specifying "BULL" as the
      "Bulletin prefix filename" (for example) allows bulletin
      filenames such as "BULL1356.MSG".  The user can enter 4
      characters in this example.  Specifying "X" makes the user
      enter UP TO (but not necessarily) 7 characters, to complete the
      rest of the bulletin filename.
   -- "System Bulletins" bug was fixed.  Never would have found this
      one out if it hadn't been for "The Ghoul's" help.
      THANKS AGAIN!
****> Users can specify whether they want "Clear screen before
      messages" ON or OFF.  The toggle command for this option uses
      the "OP" Cmdkeys, with MString of "20".  (Replaces the "word
      wrap" toggle).  Users are also prompted upon logon as to their
      preferences... clear screen, or NOT clear screen.
****> WFCMENU0.ANS (the "closed WFC Menu" ANSI display) can now
      utilize lines 1 to 23.  The "Telegard" logo has been removed
      from that particular screen, but not the WFCMENU.ANS screen
      (the one with the commands on it).  Lines 24 and 25 are
      reserved for messages and prompts displayed by Telegard at the
      WFC menu.
   -- When aborting individual messages (any kind - public or
      private), Telegard would SOMETIMES open the message file
      WITHOUT EVER CLOSING IT.  Therefore, Telegard would soon run
      out of files to open and crash the system.  THAT is fixed.
   -- When converting archive formats, if one or more of the archive
      utility EXE/COM files were missing, various unpredictable
      results would occur (such as trashing files, etc).  This is
      fixed.
****> New command-keys "-R".   Allows you to make a command to read a
      user's answers to any InfoForm questionairre file (filename is
      in the MString).  If the MString is "", the filename is prompted
      for.
   -- When "W:rite reply to message" command executed, the default "To:"
      field is the user name in the message being replied to.
   -- Still more message base "delete-message" bugs taken care of.
   -- Much friendlier message/file-base editor style.  When renaming
      DIR or BRD filenames, asks if want to rename the actual files to
      the new ones.  When toggling whether to put the DIR file in the
      DLPATH or the GFILES path, asks whether to move the file to the
      new directory.
   -- If one of the chat color-filter filenames is set to NULL,
      neither will work.
   -- Chat color-filter word-wrap bug fixed.
   -- File/message base-editor abort bug fixed.
   -- Several "@" MCI display bugs eliminated.

   ------------------------===>> Version 1.7a6 <<===------------------------

   -- Bug in ACS events (caused periodic RT #4's) is fixed.

****> The message display format (for both public and private mail)
      has been changed.  A "To:" field in public posts is now
      supported.
 
****> Telegard will now allow up to 30000 messages in a message base.
      This is not desirable, however, because NewScanning a base with
      1000's of messages takes a noticable amount of time.  Just added
      in anticipation of NetMail after 1.7b.

****> For all you ANSI-crazed people, I have just added yet another
      complicated thing to the ANSI displays.  You can now have
      Telegard display a certain ANSI file on one day of the week,
      and a certain other one on another day of the week.  It goes
      like this:

         WELCOME.A0S  - Displayed on Sunday
         WELCOME.A1S  - Displayed on Monday
                :
                :
         WELCOME.A5S  - Displayed on Friday
         WELCOME.A6S  - Displayed on Saturday

      If no "A?S" exists for that weekday, the default "ANS" is used.
      Note that Random ANSIs are still available.  Thus,
      "WELCOME.A35" means "The 5th random ANSI welcome screen
      displayed on Wednesdays".

      With this system, you can define up to 70 ANSIs (7 days * 10
      randoms) for EACH AND EVERY .ANS FILE!!  That's a lotta ANSIs!
      Obviously, you probably will never use the system to it's
      fullest, unless you have months and months of spare time to
      throw around!  You probably don't!

      This new setup is just kind of interesting, because you can
      have the board's style change EVERY DAY, not necessarily with
      every display.  "Tuesday's welcome display for The Pointe
      BBS!", etc, etc...  And they can be used in the menus, etc,
      etc, ad infinitum.

      We will soon be adding support for Morning/Afternoon/Evening
      ANSIs... which will allow up to 210 ANSIs per .ANS file!

   -- Our bad DSR/DTR/CTS flow control bug (which was introduced back
      in 1.7a2) has been fixed, I hope.  This will require Beta
      testing....

   -- When D:eleting messages, the new current message is displayed
      to ensure you don't delete any messages you didn't intend to.
 
   -- Off-hook during local logon should be fixed now.

****> If a user uploads before an event, and an event is scheduled to
      execute while they are still online, no upload refund is
      granted.  The user is notified that they will receive their
      upload refund time adjustment AFTER the event has gone off -
      they can call back after the event is over, and they will have
      their time.  This works for single-file uploads, and batch
      uploads.

   -- When adding files to archive, converting archive formats,
      updating comment fields, and testing the integrity of archives,
      user screen pause is automatically turned off.

****> "W:ithdraw Credit" command in the file-editor (usually "/E" from
      the file section).  Allows you to remove upload credit (file
      points [under the auto-file point compensation system], and
      ALWAYS upload k-bytes and number files upload credit) from the
      user, WITHOUT removing the actual file.  Useful in some cases..

   ------------------------===>> Version 1.7a5 <<===------------------------

****> BBS sped up by about 20% (ABOUT - tests on these types of things
      are never very reliable.  All I know is that it was a
      recognizable speed increase).
  
   -- Bug with WFC menu blanking is fixed now.

****> Color filters.  I like this feature a LOT.  Telegard can now
      filter a text file JUST LIKE BC.EXE does, only internally, with
      more variety, and slightly more speed.  Less disk space is
      used, because no .ANS file is taking up space.  Telegard will
      display certain characters in certain colors, according to a
      color control file, which can be generated by using
      COCONFIG.EXE.

      To add color filters to normal Telegard text files, insert the
      following charcters at the beginning of the file:

        <CONTROL-T> c <FILENAME> ;

      You can add a Control-T in most word-processors by pressing
      Control-P + Control-T.

      An example: "(^T)cbul1.cfg;"

      If you don't specify a path in the filename, Telegard will look
      for the color filters in your AFILES or GFILES directories.

      Try it out!  You'll like it.

      Also, coming soon, is the ability to have several different
      color filters used at random, as with the random ANSIs.  Stay
      tuned.

****> Hitting "\" from the user-editor shows the current user's
      SLOG####.LOG, if it exists.
  
****> Scheduled events to allow only CERTAIN USERS on the system for
      the time in which the event takes place.  The event type is
      "A", and the execution data is a 20-character ACS.  To allow
      ONLY users 4, 6, and 15 online within a certain time range, the
      ACS would be "u4|u6|u15", for example.  To allow only users
      with the "A" or "B" AR flags, the ACS would be "fa|fb".

      To ensure no one ties up the board logging on during the event
      time-span, Telegard prompts ths user for their user name/number
      AS SOON AS carrier is detected.  If AND ONLY IF they enter the
      name/number of a user which satisfies the event ACS, they will
      be prompted for their password.  If the user enters another
      user, or the password is incorrect, the user is logged off
      IMMEDIATELY.  ALSO, the user is notified that they have ONLY
      FIFTEEN SECONDS to enter their name/number, and if they take
      longer, Telegard drops carrier.

   -- When SysOp Chat hours were set to *None* before, users could
      page the SysOp ALL the time!  This has been fixed.

   -- During the logon process, Telegard now calculates whether an
      event is scheduled to execute within the user's time limits.
      If so, the user's time is CHOPPED to allow the event to run
      RIGHT AFTER THEY LOG OFF.  None of the user's time is actually
      lost, and the user can log on again AFTER the event has been
      executed.

****> The chat-call page is louder (or maybe higher pitched?) than
      before.

****> 22 new strings added to the S:tring editor (from P:System
      Config).  Many, MANY, more will be configurable when I get the
      "Super-String editor" installed (after NetMail is done,
      probably within 2 or 3 months).

****> New MCI command: "@K" will return the number of k-bytes free on
      the drive of the current file base's upload path.

****> Up to EIGHT archive formats may now be specified.

****> STATUS.DAT has been split up into STATUS.DAT, GFILES\MODEM.DAT
      and GFILES\STRING.DAT.  MODEM.DAT contains modem information,
      and STRING.DAT contains string information.

   ------------------------===>> Version 1.7a4 <<===------------------------

****> Monochrome routines for windows work fine.  Thanks to "Johnny
      Danger" and "Music Man" for helping out in testing.

   -- When files are extracted into the temporary directory, and the
      bulletin board is NOT running on an UL/DL ratio system, the file
      is assigned FILE POINTS, according to the auto file-point
      compensation values (from the F:iles config of the P:System
      Config).  File points are assigned in two cases: when auto file
      point compensation is ON with the UL/DL ratio system OFF, and
      when BOTH auto file point compensation AND auto file point
      compensation are OFF.
 
   -- When a null modem-string must be sent, Telegard used to send a
      carriage return anyway.  Now it will not send ANYTHING if the
      hangup, init, answer, or offhook string is NULL.

****> Certain file bases can be flagged for "GifSpecs".  What this
      means is that Telegard will, after the GIF picture has been
      uploaded, insert the x- & y- resolutions, and the number of
      colors, in the GIF picture, into the actual Telegard file
      description.  The format is: "(1111x2222,333c)" where "1111" is
      the x-resolution, "2222" is the y-resolution, and "333" is the
      number of colors.

      If you already have a large number of GIF pictures, and want
      THEM to have GifSpecs in them too, first flag the directories
      with GIF pictures in them, and then use the new "*8"
      menu-command to add GifSpecs to all the GIF files in the
      directory.  An easy way to do this is:

        Files ://\\*8
               ^^^^^^---- You type this.

****> Telegard now can show the specifications (x & y resolutions,
      and number of colors) of GIF picture files, with the use of the
      V:iew command from the file section.  Viewing "*.GIF", for
      example, will show a listing of all the GIFs in the current
      directory, and all their specifications.

****> A third list option is available: a two-line-per-file list
      which includes the filename, # DLs, UL date, who ULed it (if
      user has access to this information), # of bytes, # of pts (if
      system run by file points), description, and verbose
      description(s).

****> Whenever WFCMENU.ANS, WFCMENU0.ANS, or SYSFUNC.ANS are changed
      in ANY way, their data files are re-generated automatically -
      this means there is no need to delete them first to *force* a
      re-generation (although you can still do this).  The data file
      is re-generated *whenever* the DOS date & time differs between
      the .ANS file and the .DAT file.

****> Telegard hangs up the phone after Critical Errors now.  We are
      trying to figure out how to make Telegard just drop back to the
      main menu (or something to that effect) when Critical Errors
      occur, but it is more complicated than it seems (in Turbo
      Pascal, anyway).
 
   -- Bug where LASTON.DAT needs to be re-generated has been fixed.
      This was nothing serious -  it just displayed "garbage" on the
      WFC Menu for the first 10 callers.
   
****> New menu commands:

        "D-" : Executes a door commandline, without outputting any
               type of door information file at all.
        "DW" : Executes door after outputting "CALLINFO.BBS", the
               Wildcat! door format.  This format needs some testing,
               and I'd also like someone to get me the complete
               structures to CALLINFO.BBS... I only have an
               incomplete copy.

   -- More Shuttle Logon bugs have been eliminated.  These were not in
      the Standard versions --  only in the Beta version (I think).

   -- Before, when a user goes to upload a file and sends it to the
      SysOp directory, and specifies "(B)atch" for the protocol,
      Telegard would leave the user in the SYSOP DIRECTORY afterwards!
      That is fixed....

   -- When entering pathnames into the message or file base editors,
      Telegard would prompt "Directory does not exist.  Create now? ",
      and if you entered "Yes", it would NEVER BE ABLE to create the
      directory, because of a bug.  That works now.
 
****> A powerful new method of stating the requirements and
      conditions under which a user has access to something -
      whether it be a file base, a menu-editor command, or a
      text-file in the text-file section -  is now available.  It's
      called "ACS", short for "Access Condition String".  All data
      files have been converted to this new method, as much, much
      more is possible with it.

   ------------------------===>> Version 1.7a3 <<===------------------------

   -- The Door Bug Part II has been eliminated.  That was where the
      BBS would slow down to about 50 baud after RETURNING from ANY
      KIND of door.  SORRY ABOUT THAT ONE -  it was communications
      related.  These *$#*#@$( new comm-routines again.
 
   -- When entering user name/numbers, entering user #'s would CRASH
      the BBS.  This is fixed now....

   ------------------------===>> Version 1.7a2 <<===------------------------

   -- Made some display optimizations for a SLIGHT speed increase.
      Don't know if anyone will notice it!

   -- When uploads or downloads get aborted *immediately*, Telegard
      would crash when calculating the CPS rate (because of a division
      by zero - i.e. zero time!).  That is fixed now.

   -- There used to be a bug where if you were to edit a file using
      the Telegard text editor, and then do a DOS shell of ANY kind
      (door, SysOp shell, archive integrity test, etc.), Telegard
      would crash with a RT #204.  This is FIXED!  This one had me
      going for a WHILE... a LONG while.  It was a REAL complicated
      problem having to do with the new communications routines...

   -- Problems with certain bases being duplicated in the file and
      message sections have been removed.  Thank God we didn't release
      that version Standard, eh, folks!?

   -- The "=" command, accessible to Co-SysOps from ANY menu, has been
      expanded to include most or all of the menu information on the
      current menu (menu name, prompt, requirements, etc).

   -- When Searching for Duplicate Files is on, Telegard sometimes
      used to skip the search anyway.  This is fixed now.

   -- The Voting Question Initialization command used to ask for a max
      of 20 answers, which could mess up the voting questions (they
      only support 9 answers).  That is fixed.

****> When in the voting section, hitting "A" allows you to answer ALL
      of the questions you have not answered yet, without having to
      actually FIND OUT which ones...
 
****> Telegard no longer has internal Xmodem or Ymodem protocols.  I
      removed them 1) Because I was having many problems with them,
      and they were unreliable in many cases, 2) To save memory and
      disk space.  The conversion utility will replace Xmodem and
      Ymodem internal protocols with the commandlines for DSZ, as DSZ
      supports Xmodem and Ymodem itself.
 
****> Added a number of new batch files which are executed at various
      stages of execution.

          LOGOFF.BAT   -- Executed just before the user is hung up.
                          Passes the "@F @L @B @G @T @R" MCI set
                          parameters to DOS, like "LOGON.BAT" does.
          DAYSTART.BAT -- Executed at the beginning of the first call
                          for the day, while "Please wait ...." is
                          displayed.  Passes the "@F @L @B @G @T @R"
                          MCI set parameters to DOS, like "LOGON.BAT"
                          does.
          BBSSTART.BAT -- Executed just between the initialization
                          screen and the WFC menu when the BBS is
                          first loaded up.
          BBSDONE.BAT  -- Executed just before exiting to DOS during a
                          NORMAL BBS execute.

   -- (R)emove command makes ABSOLUTE sure when removing credit from
      the uploader (if specified), that the user who uploaded the file
      and the user name MATCH first.  For example, if a user uploaded
      a file, and was deleted, and the SysOp later Removed the file,
      the NEW user (if any) who took the place of the deleted user,
      WOULD HAVE lost credit... credit he had never gained!  That is
      fixed.

****> Telegard's fast screen reading and writing routines SHOULD work
      OKay with monochrome monitors now.  I will need someone to
      verify this, however...

   -- Minor bug-fix.  On the WFC menu, Telegard would erroneously
      report negative figures for disk space left, IF the disk space
      left was over 32767k...  That would not cause any major
      problems, but it WOULD be confusing.  There are also still
      problems concerning the (/M)ove command, for certain people.  I
      am looking into it.

****> BOARDS.DAT has been taken out of memory, for a savings of
      approximately 7000 bytes or so.  Big deal, but... the batch
      upload/download queues should make a bigger difference.

****> The SysOp can flag certain users for permanent SysOp logs via
      the user editor command "~" now.  The normal SysOp log for these
      users is still maintained, and the permanent log is an exact
      duplicate of it, only output to a file "SLOG####.LOG", in the
      LOG/TRAP directory, where "####" is the user number.

****> When the maximum number of messages in a message base is
      decreased, and becomes lower than the number of messages in the
      base, the remainder is deleted at the next public post on the
      base.  This makes the number of messages in the base come out
      even with the max number.

****> The replace string command in the message editor (/P in main
      message entry mode, U:pdate line in the "message editor" [enter
      it by hitting /E]) has been simplified tremendously.

****> When sending E-mail to a user (W:rite command at the WFC menu,
      or E:mail command in the MSGS menu), you can now enter a partial
      search string, as in the U:ser find command in the user editor.
      Telegard will keep prompting possible names until the user finds
      the correct one.

****> The (P)osition command has been added to the Message base editor.

   -- Several potentially dangerous bugs in the protocol editor
      dealing with (D)eleting and (P)ositioning protocols have been
      eliminated.  Bugs in the File- and Message- base editors
      cropped up between 1.7a and 1.7a2 (not in the original Standard
      release), but were fixed.

   -- The bug dealing with days of the week (where Sunday would be
      displayed as Saturday, etc, etc..) is fixed.

****> The (V)iew command (in the file section) will handle "Imploded"
      compression format in ZIP archive files, in preparation for the
      Standard release of PKZIP v1.00.  Thanks to Martin Pollard,
      ONCE AGAIN, for allowing us to use his IFL program internally
      in Telegard!

      Although Martin gave the authors of TAG the source code to one
      of his initial releases of IFL, TAG didn't really act like they
      appreciated it, and kind of "spit on the hand that fed
      them".... which is one reason Martin doesn't feel like giving
      any of his later releases to them!

****> Window for online user data entry is entered by hitting F1.
      This new command allows you to edit the user's SL, DSL, file
      points, SysOp Note, AR and AC flags, while they are online.
      This command REPLACES those old commands, and keys S+F1, F2,
      S+F2, and S+F6 are temporarily inactive, pending my finding out
      new uses for them.

   -- Bug with (X)pert command has been fixed.

   -- When users have less than 0 file points, and they attempt to
      download files with 0 file points (or No-Ratio files), they
      USED to be unable to download them.  That is fixed.

****> The UPLOADS.DAT data file (which contains file base
      information) used to be loaded into Telegard memory during the
      startup process.  I didn't want to take the file base data out
      of memory for awhile, because I thought doing so would slow
      down the BBS considerably, because the BBS would have to search
      for each file base as it needs the data (case in point: TAG
      does this, and their file system, as a result, is very slow).
      As it turns out, however, when I did so, the file system is not
      slower at ALL, so far as I can tell..  I can't tell any
      difference whatsoever!  And doing this took 20000 bytes off of
      the memory that Telegard takes up.  I'm going to do this with
      BOARDS.DAT and the upload/download batch queues next.
  
****> New set of communications routines supporting 19200 and 38400
      bauds have replaced the older routines, which only supported
      9600 baud.  The routines work perfectly, but the interface
      between "Computer <--> Modem" and "Modem <--> User" needs
      extensive work.  I will release a set of Init strings after the
      routines have been thoroughly tested for bauds 300, 1200, 2400,
      9600, 19200, AND 38400, on the newer "9600" baud modems which
      support 38400 baud.
 
****> Prompt MCI command "@L" now is the user's real last name.

****> New command added to MiniDos: "EXT".  Entering this command in
      MiniDos allows you to execute a *DOS* command from the current
      sub-directory.  Execution format:
 
        "EXT dir /w"

   -- Many bugs concerning the "MOVE" and "COPY" commands in MiniDos
      have been erradicated.  We HOPE MiniDos is practically
      idiot-proof now... but we can never tell!  There are alot of
      idiots out there!
 
   -- Yet another logon bug has been eradicated.  Nothing serious this
      time, but if a user hits <CR> at the logon prompt until the
      number of tries has been passed, they will be logged on as a new
      user, instead of hung up.  This is fixed...


*******************************************************************************
////// // \\ // \\ // \\ // \\ // \\ // \\ // \\ // \\ // \\ // \\ // \\ \\\\\\
///// //   \\/   \\/   \\/   \\/   \\/   \\/   \\/   \\/   \\/   \\/   \\ \\\\\

      NEW FILES FOR TELEGARD 1.7B:

      GFILES\MODEM.DAT - Contains modem configuration data
      GFILES\STRING.DAT - Contains string configuration data
      LOG\SLOG####.LOG - Seperate SysOp log for user ####.
      BBSDONE.BAT -
      BBSSTART.BAT -
      DAYSTART.BAT -
      LOGOFF.BAT -

    * - means the file already exists, and should be replaced with
        the new version of the file (the conversion program will
        handle this for you automatically)

\\\\\ \\   //\   //\   //\   //\   //\   //\   //\   //\   //\   //\   // /////
\\\\\\ \\ // \\ // \\ // \\ // \\ // \\ // \\ // \\ // \\ // \\ // \\ // //////
*******************************************************************************

 
      KEEP AN EYE OUT for any bugs, suggestions, or ANYTHING, NO
      MATTER HOW SMALL.  We're ALWAYS interested in new ideas.
      "We want to hear from ya!"

      I can be reached on any one of the BBSs below,
              *preferably* 313-885-1779!


    *> Telegard Alpha Sites <*

    System Name         Number        Bauds           Hours Main SysOp    
    ------------------- ------------  --------------- ----- ---------------
    The Pointe BBS      313-885-1779  1200/2400        24h  Eric Oman
    Warp Speed BBS      313-544-0405  300/1200/2400   8p-8a Todd Bolitho
    The Ozone BBS       313-689-2876  300/1200/2400    24h  John Dixon
    Electric Eye ][     313-776-8928  3/12/24/96(HST)  24h  Bill Schwartz


                             -- Thanks for trying Telegard!