February 4, 1999
New Web Based BBS:
Currently working is:
Login functions (password hashes, email verification, permission and
security checking), Security levels and user flags
Messages, files (currently downloads are e-mailed to you, but he plans
to change this) On-line messaging, Real-time "who's online", Support
for on-line (web based) games. He plans to include most of RA's features,
as well as a few other things.
The system currently uses MS-Access databases to store everything,
and most of the configuration is stored in one of the Cold Fusion
templates, which you can edit, but isn't very friendly.
He plans to port it to PHP, WebPlus and CGI as well as the Cold Fusion
version. He is considering offering a freeware lite version, (with source)
and a feature-full commercial version.
Although it's now functional, it's still a long way from being released.
If you are intrested you can logon now and check it out. Be sure to
use your real email address when you logon, as it will email you back
a required password.
tcRA32 News:
Another feature is the tcTelnet Node Manager, you can set up tcTelnet
on a server and run tcRA32 on workstations throughout your LAN,
and tcTelnet Node Manager will act as a gateway. A nice feature is
you can use a 1 node version of Netmodem to run doors on several
tcRA32 nodes.
Searchlight BBS (and RIP) News:
As we have mentioned previously, TeleGrafix plans to build a new internet
server (codenamed "Project Cherokee") which will be based based on
ProBoard/32 BBS and parts of the Searchlight BBS and the Spinnaker Web server
which they also aquired, along with their RIPscrip graphics interface.
And speaking of RIPscrip, TeleGraphics plans to release a new version of
RIPaint in the near future with greatly expanded graphical capabilities.
According to Clawson, it will be considerably easier to use, and it's
redesigned so it will be very easy for non-artists to create stunning
graphics.
TeleGrafix also plans to release a full RIPscrip SDK in the near future.
This Software Development Kit will make it easy for third-party door
developers and BBS developers to add local RIPscrip 3.0 graphics to their
products.
They hope to make RIP the new BBS standard for the next milennium, to
replace the outdated ANSi standard that is still used on most BBS's today.
EleBBS News:
Unlike previous versions, the betas now require a serial number to install,
so you will need to send an email to
support@tactical-sw.com and request a temporary serial number which will
last for over a month, at which time you can request another one (if it's
still in beta).
Details of how to configure COM/IP for BBS use can be found in our
December 1998 edition.
Adam Maloney, (sysop of Hell Frozen over BBS) is currently developing
a web based BBS written in Cold Fusion. It will be a clone of
RemoteAccess BBS, and does not yet have a name.
http://www.hfobbs.com/bbbs
Niels Schoot will release a new public beta of tcRA32 this month,
which will include a built in Telnet server!
According to Niels, it's telnet implimentation is a total solution,
which will allow DOS doors to work as well by interfacing the tcRA32
door loader with an existing Windows telnet-fossil (such as netmodem
or com/ip+winfossil)
http://www.slash.nl/~tcra32/
Pat Clawson of TeleGrafix (the new owner of both Searchlight and ProBoard BBS's)
just announced that a public beta of Searchlight 2.10 will be released later
this week, perhaps even in the next day or two.
Telegrafix had originally planned to release this public version in late 1998,
but due to some serious bugs related to deep rooted syntax errors in the
source code they purchased, it has taken a prolonged period of time to sort
out. Searchlight was one of the first BBS programs to include a built-in
fossil-compatible telnet server.
Maarten Bekers plans to release a public gamma version of EleBBS around
the end of this month. EleBBS 0.04G (known as Gamma4) will be a major
improvment over the current public Gamma3. Several portions of the code
were rewritten since gamma3 in order to optimize the 32-bit versions,
and many features have been added. The new 32-bit versions will offer
internal IRC chatting, internal multi-node telnet, newsgroup support,
and many new scripting commands have been added to allow even more
customization. The two Windows versions of the beta versions are now
lightning fast, compaired to the sluggish display speeds that the previous
Win32 versions offered in Gamma3.
http://home.wxs.nl/~elevator
Com/IP News:
Tactical Software has re-released a newer beta 1 version COM/IP 2.0, their
multinode Telnet server, on January 26th. It is now only available from
their site and may not be re-distributed. This version fixes some of the
problems in their original beta-0 release, but unfortunatly it still has the
echo-on bug when used with certain terminals such as mTelet.
http://www.tactical-sw.com
Update: February 17th:
Renegade version 99044 released
A minor update to Renegade BBS was released this weekend.
Differnces include an enhanced BBSListing routine and an
enhanced lastcallers on display. There is still no support for
the industry standard JAM or Squish messagebases, or for
simple file number tagging.
http://europa.humberc.on.ca/~tachyon/renegade.html
If you have any news about any other BBS software this month,
please email mike@pcmicro.com