From: %72%vop--9--@ix.netcom.com (Daniel Dudovitz)
Subject: Re: TRS-80 BBS Programs?
Date: 1998/06/18
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On Tue, 16 Jun 1998 23:16:43 -0500, "Dr. Kevan C. Barley"
<kbarley@asgard.cbu.edu> wrote:

>I'd like to put together a BBS for a kids' club at my church, but I'm
>having problems with the PD programs which are available.
>
>My copy of the Greene Machine, ver 2.1 (Mod III) has two files missing: 
>DRIVER3/CMD (which is essential) and SETUP/TXT, which is part of the
>documentation.  Any of you old-timers have them? 
>
>In the very elaborate ERACS system (Mod 4), a file called STARTUP/JCL
>contains the command "Uinf," presumed to stand for "user info."  No such
>file as UINF/CMD exists on the disks I have (from the File Cabinet,
>operated by Computer News 80) or in the very detailed documentation, nor
>is any such file created by any program on the disks, so far as I can
>find.  Is there a former ERACS sysop out there who can shed some light on
>this? 
>
>Last, does anyone have a copy of the manual for Mel Patrick's FastPlus II?
>
>   ___          ___   	           _
>  |    \  ___  |    \  __ _   ___ | |  ___ __   _ 
>  | |\  |' __| | |>  )/  ^ ||' __|| | / __ \ \/ /  Forget world peace;
>  | |/  | |    | |>  ) <>  || |   | ||  ___/\  /   visualize using your
>  |____/|_|  o |____/ \_/|_||_|   |_| \____|/ /         turn signal!
>                                           /_/
>

Your version of Greene Machine is a very old copy, and has many bugs
and security holes. A friend and I disassembled DRIVER3/CMD to locate
all of the bugs. By the way, this file is what links your basic
programs to the COM port, and handles other chores such as kbd and
video redirection, etc.

I used to run a modified version of Greene Machine called the Trading
Post software, which also had many bugs. Since that time, my friend
and I rewrote the "DRIVER3/CMD" and created a robust driver that
closed secutiry holes,supported several new types of file xfer
protocols (the old Greene Machine used other external programs to
accomplish this), added log spooling to disk, support for higher baud
rate detection, etc

 I ran my software for 4 1/2 years without a glitch. By the way, you
don't need setup/txt, since most of it can be gleaned from just
playing with the system.

Seems to me thought that this is not the best route to take. It's much
simpler to setup a website, with the following advantages:

Easy to create pages
No special requirements other than access to the net
Supports simultaneous multiple users
etc.

If you insist on running a dedicated BBS, you should get an old 286
and setup FIDO or some other IBM derivative. Don't get me wrong... I
loved the old Trash 80's, and learned how to program on them long
before joining the IBM compatible world. But if you need to do this in
a serious fashion, then you should consider using a modern BBS or a
website. Only if you have a love/desire to play with old
hardware/software should you consider setting this up on a trash80. If
you do insist on a Trash80 site, perhaps you should look for a copy of
TBBS on any of the TRS80 archive sites.

Dan