THE 

BULLETIN 

BOARD 

SYSTEMS 

MAGAZINE 



March 1995 

US $3.95 
Canada $4.95 

70992-35460 



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The 
Worldgroup 

Era 
Begins. . • 



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Spring 
1995 



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THE 

BULLETIN 
BOARD 
SYSTEMS 
MAG A ZIN E 



PI RUSHER/ADVERTISING DIRECTOR 

Richard Paquetle 

609.231:1757 

ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER 

John P. Carciorie 

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF 

Richard W. Robinson Jr. 

DESIGN AND ILLUSTRATION 

Terry Wilson 

ART DIRECTOR 

Jeanne Lorenzo 

CONTRIRUTING WRITERS 

Huh Browne, "Uncle" Hank Hurteau, Michael A. 

Kiiykfiitlall. Modem Mage, Gaeiytie R. Morancc. 

Mike Robinson, Terry Rossi, ami Shai'i Steele 

PRE-PRESS PRODUCTION 

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William A. Townsend 

EDITORIAL/A I) VERTISING OFFICES 

BUS Magazine 

Callers Digest Inc. 

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Medford, NJ 08055 

609.953,91 10 Main Office 

609.231:1757 Advertising 

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or MasterCard, or send rticck, money order payable to 
Callers Digest. Inc. 

Entire contents copyright ©1995 Callers Digest, Inc., .ill 
rights reserved. Material in this publication MAY NOT 
be reproduced in any form without written permission 
Irorn the publisher ol BBS Magazine. 

UBS Magazine (ISSN #1055-2812) i- published monthlj 
bj Callers Digest, Inc., 701 Stokes Rd., Medford, NJ 
08055. Callers Digest, Ini . is nol responsible For the opin- 
ions expressed hj euntributors. Questions and comments 
are welcomed. Unless otherwise instructed, we assume all 
rights to letter^, articles, or other communications sent to 
Culiei-s Digest, Inc. as unconditionally assigned for publi- 
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adthessed em elope will not be returned. Uploads are 
accepted only in ZIP format at "The Liveware BBS." 
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POSTMASTER: Please send all change of address (with old 
label and new address) to: Callers Digest, Ira*.. 7t)I Stokes 
Rd., Medford, NJ 08055. 

PRINTED IN UNITED STATES 



CONTENTS 



VOLUME 6, NUMBER 3 



MARCH 1995 



FEATU 



10 Worldgroup for Windows 



26 Art- Biz -Movies -Games 

The Big Board* by Terry Rossi 

32 Sweet e-MOO-tion 

Netlaw bv Sltari Steele 



36 Everybaudy's BBS, Home Again, 
Hotel California, State Patrol 

BBS Notebook by Bob Browne 

42 The Best of the Web 

Internet Made Easy by Mike Robinson 

46 Mac Files on PC Boards 

Macintosh Online 

by Michael A. Kuykendall 

48 Pluck the Keyboard, Be a Star 

Uncle Hank's Shareware Reviews 
by "Uncle" Hank Hurteau 

50 CKit 94! 

Commodore Connections 
by Gaelyne R. Aloraiicc 

54 Modem #!©%!! 

Modem Discounts by Modern Mage 



TMENTS 



4 readme.txt 

6 Newswire 

60 Bookshelf 

64 Classified Ads 

66 Advertiser's Index 




P"gl' 10 





page 46 




page SO 



MARCH 1995 BBS MAGAZINE 




Rusty Edie 

Call a different kind of BBS. "We 

are the Friendliest BBS in the 
World." Our name says il all. Edie 
and I are a couple of burnouts from 
the 60s. We didn't like rules then 
and we don't now. Come on in and 
relax; you will be among friends. 
We have a huge adult section, 
including over three gigs of adult 
graphics, as well as a fine selection 
of public domain and shareware 
programs, including over a gig of 
family-type graphics. But that's not 
what sets us apart. When you call 
the first time, you'll know what no 
amount of words can tell you, you 
are Home. That's right, put up your 
feet and enjoy yourself. 

We live by three no's: "No 
Censorship, No Rules, No Hassle." 

You'll find us like no other BBS: 

• We answer your messages and 
comments. 

• We answer your on-line pages. 

• We post our address. 

• We post our voice phone 
number. 

Rusty n Edie's BBS 

7393 California Ave. 

Youngstown. OH 44512 

Voice 216-726-4217 

HSTonly 216-726-1804 

Compucom 216-726-3584 

Hayes V-Series 216-726-3619 

All (V32etc.) 216-726-2620 

Fax 216-726-3595 




fh 



WMdU 






\- BBSing travels through iterations of redefinition, pi 
peiled b\ innovations in software and frequent fresh takes mi interconneetiviiy, 
callers andsysops worldwide are fumbling Inward tomorrow with one hand on 
the i in hi--, the other on whatever gives balance, 

OJ course tint all BBSers face the new frontiers with the boldness of a Lewis 
or Clark. Some take the slow road, quiell) waiting for the "all clear," while -till 
others exhibit a child-like verve a> the) wander Uiis boundless new world for 
the firs! lime. 

Regardless oi where the paradigm grabs vou. there's almost always some- 
thing arresting on the other side of that seven-digit dial. 

Calacticomm i^ introducing a novel way to explore 
I In i-i ■ frontiers 1 mentioned. The r lorida company's new client/server bulletin 
board system takes The Major BBS 6.25 and transplants it in another envirohr 
menl - \\ indows. But it's far from j i i-i The Major foi \\ indows. 

This system \ irtuall) revi rites ever) ta>k the I K >£ lerformed and 

im ill i pi ifs their flexibility. No longer do you simpl) chat, for instance. You 
chat, send and retrieve files, whisper, and share a painting palette with the oth- 
ers onlini — simultaneous!) in real-linn-. 

For a sneak preview of the soon-lo-be-released system, fiip to page 10. 

Elsewhere in this issue, Shari Steele (Netlaw) offers an update on recent 
major changes at the Kleetronic Frontier Foundation. Mike Robinson (Internet 
Made Eas) I checks mil The Best of the Vi el> and finds what voters deemed the 
best World Wide Web pages xA 1994— seeil .■■ 

KuykendaU (Macintosh Online) takes on the problems that cum.- with find - 
retrieving and. placing Mae files on l'( . BBSs. 

So no matter where you fall, on that metaphysical paradigm of the KBSt's 
thing, we're right their with you to help navigate. If you don't agree, mj mail 
box is always open. 



Riel Robinson, Editor-in-Chief 
rick.robinson(9 bbscd.com 



MARCH 1995 BBS MAGAZINE 




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fastest, most compatible modems available. 
So doesn't it behoove you to give them the 
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every high-speed protocol and international 
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Rockwell International Corporation. 'Special $249 price applies to externa! Courier V.34 Ready wtttl V.FC ("The V.Everthing Modem") only Purchase at this price limited to 

one modem per dedicated line. 

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NetPublisher 



EVA.NSTON, IL— "Businesses and 
other organizations want to get their 
information on the Information 
Superhighway — but they need the tools 
to do it." 

Thai's John Kolnian of Ameritech 
Library Services (ALS). He says ALS* 

al is to "enable Organizations to pro- 
de information on the Internet quick- 

and easily." And he plans to meet 
iiat goal with NetPublisher. a Windows 
NT-based publishing tool. 

At heart, NetPublisher is a World 
Wide Web. Gopher and Z39.50 server 
that enables organizations to catalog 
and organize resources of all media 
types, including text, images, audio, 
video and multimedia. 

When a user stores or catalogs infor- 
mation with NetPublisher. the inputting 
need only be performed once. The serv- 




er then automatically formats resources 
for the Wei). Gopher and Z39.50. 
Callers can in turn access the info with 
any ^ eh browser. Gopher or Z39.5Q 
client. 

In-depth knowledge of HTML, is nol 
necessary, because NetPublisher fea- 
tures a template allowing sysops to cus- 
tomize layouts by prompting them for 
header, footer and other graphical 
information. NetPublisher then auto- 
matically delivers the information lo 
the chosen format. 

for more information contact Amer- 



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itech at 1 800.556.6847, or point your 
Web browser at http://netpub.notis.com. 

The BBS Option 

SEATTLE, WA — With all the big 
media companies taking their products 
to market on the Big Board services of 
Prodigy. CompuServe, and AOL 

(among others), the Seattle Times news- 
paper did what more and more entities 
are opting to do — run its own service 
on a BBS. 

Galacticomm's The Major BBS has 
been chosen as the software and 
"Seattle Times Extra" was picked as 
the name. 

A number of reasons were cited for 
the Times' choice of a BBS over a dedi- 
cated area on a pa\ service, among 
them being the control factor and the 
ability for numerous users to access the 
information without the need for high- 
speed modems. 

According to the paper, the focus of 
the board will be un local interests. 



Buttoning DOS 



SEQUIM, WA — Triad Software has 

released its popular "Buttons lor DOS 
5.0'' into the shareware arena. 

Buttons is a weighty pop-up that can 
be set to appear when users boot or exit 
to DOS from \\ indows. \\ bat's dis- 
played is an attractive point-and-cliek 
mouse environment from which to 
launch DOS programs. 

for those downloading a lot ol 
RAM-hogging games, for instance. 
Triad maintains that Buttons for DOS 




solves the problem of resorting lo a boot 
disk or performing major surgery on the 
AUTOEXEC.BAT. 

"\\ hen a user needs an alternate 
start-up configuration, not only will 
Buttons create the alternate boot files," 
Triad says, but "it will also edit the 
alternate files for them automatically." 

Buttons scans the user's hard drive 
in search of common DOS programs. 
automatically assigning them a button 
in the menu. When a DOS application 
is launched. Buttons disappears, taking 
ilsell completely out of user memory. 

Registration is $29. 

Triad Software can be reached at 
P.O Box 1299. Sequim, WA 98382. or 
by calling 800.683.3202. The program 
can be downloaded from the Triad file 
area of SWC BBS at 508.365.2359. 

Clark (In)direct 

MURRAY. UTAH— Clark 
Development Company, developer of 
PCBoard BBS software, has signed up 
as a premier member of BBS Direct. 

Formed by Concentric Research 
Corporation. BBS Direct fundamentally 
changes the way BBSers access their 
favorite boards. Instead ol dialing direct 
and incurring costly long-distance fees, 
callers can ring up a local number into 
BBS Direct for a 830 monthly fee. and 
from there link up with member boards. 

"We are proud lo be a premier 
member of BBS Direct," said Steve 
Klingler, general manager ol Clark. 
"Their service offers our customers 
high-speed access to our BBS for a flat 
monthly fee." 



MARCH 1995 BBS MAGAZINE 




Concentric Research says local 
access is provided in 100 of the 
nation's largest metropolitan areas, with 
250 others coming online over the next 
year. 

"We make long-distance usage 
charges for callers obsolete," said Marc 
Collins-Rector, Coneentric's president 
and chief operating officer. 

Currently BBS Direct boasts 31 
member boards, including Clark's Salt 
Air BBS. 

Other members include Channel 
One, Software Creations, Mustang, 
Exec-PC and Rusty V Edie's. 

To access BBS Direct, call 
800.991.4227, or dial them voice at 
800.745.2747. 

Wildcat! 4 Jolts 
Mustang Sales 

BAKERSFIELD, CA — Mustang 
Software, Inc. (MSI), makers of the 
Wildcat! BBS software, says the latest 
release of its BBS package set company 
records for sales in the first four months 
of availability. 

Version 4.0. shipped last July, has 
helped boost projected sales past 
15,000 for the year — a 36 percent 
increase over 1993. And the company 
expects that when the counting's done, 
annual revenues for '94 will have 
broached 85 million. 

MSI attributes the brisk sales to the 
product itself, as well as marketing 
strategy and an increase in "demand 
for BBSs in business applications." 

The Wildcat! BBS Suite, retailing 





for $999. supports up to 250 concurrent 
dial-in callers, allows up to eight BBS 
lines connected to a single PC and is 
packaged with three add-on packages. 
A single-line version of the software is 
available for 3129. 

For more information, contact 
Mustang at 800.999.9619. 

enlightened: Awareness 
of Services Strong 

NEW YORK, NY — A recent study 
has concluded roughly 40 percent of 
American consumers are aware of each 
of the four major online services. 

Conducted by CDB Research & 
Consulting Inc.. the research arm of 
Creamer Dickson Basford (a public 
relations firm), the study interpreted 
results returned by 356 respondents (of 
1,030). 



Three percent or fewer of those sur- 
veyed reported being current sub- 
scribers to each of the major online ser- 
vices. Past usage of the services at 
home, work or school ranged from 11 
percent for Prodigy and eight percent 
for CompuServe to one percent each for 
Delphi/BIX and CEnie. However, 
according to the study, awareness is 
high: Prodigy, 73 percent: Internet, 58 
percent; CompuServe, 56 percent: 
America Online, 44 percent. 

"The high awareness suggests online 
services could soon have an explosion of 
subscribership," said Larry Chiagouris. 
managing director of CDB Research & 
Consulting Inc. 'Taking into account 
this high awareness and the historical 
penetration rates for other teclmologies, 
plus the finding in our survey that as 
many as half of Americans now have 
home computers, we expect subscription 
rates to double in 1995." 

To gel a copy of the survey; call 
212.887.8033. 

BBS EXPO '96 

PHILADELPHIA, PA —Philadelphia 
has been chosen as the host city for 
next springs BBS EXPO '96, the expo- 
sition devoted to the world's online 
community. 

BBSers, sysops, online services, 
software developers, Internet providers, 
Net surfers and anyone interested in 
gelling involved with the continuing 
online revolution is encouraged to 
attend. 



G O N'tl N U"E s ... 



BBSing the Internet 

Still on the fence about tapping the 
Net? Maybe this'll nudge you — it's the 
tales! list (al press time) of newsgroups 
earning "bbs" as part of their title: 

alt.bbs 

alt.bbs.ads 

aSl.hhs.allsysnp 
alt.bbs. doors 
all.bbs.dreamlhhs 
alt.bbs. first-class 
alt.bbs. gigo-galewav 
.alt.bbs. internet 
ait.bbs.lisls 
alL.bbs. lists. d 



all. libs, inajorbbs 

alt.bbs. metal 

alt.bbs.pcboard 

all.bhs.pebnuep 

all. lib-. renegade 

alt.bbs. searehligh I 

alt.bbs.unixbbs 

alt.bbs. unixbhs.uuiboard 

all.bhs.iutpcb 

alt.bbs. Watergate 

alt.bbs. wildcat 

alt.bDS.wme 

com p.bbs. m ajorbbs 

eomp.bbs.misc 

comp.bbs.tbbs 

comp.bbs. waffle 



MARCH 1995 BBS MAGAZINE 



The EXPO staff is currently prepar- 
ing for the event, which will feature 

demonstrations, displays and seminars 
from leaders in die HBSing. online ser- 
vices and Internet arenas. 

Further updates will be posted in 
this space. 



The Skinny 



Tllfi NATIONAL LAW JOURNAL the largest 

selling legal publication in the U.S.. 
has begun a comprehensive online 
information and communications ser- 
vice for the legal profession railed Law 
Journal EXTRA! 

COMPATIBLE SYSTEMS CORP. has signed 
with UUNET Technologies, a top 

Internet provider for corporations, and 
Met software publisher Netscape 
Communications to offer \\ nrldW ire. 
\\ orldW ire is plunned as a corporate 
Internet bundle. 

USA TODAY has launched the USA 
Today Information Network, uilh the 
intent to seek opportunities online. And 
Gannett Media Technologies Inc. has 
been created to develop and market 



products designed to strengthen bonds 
between newspapers and their readers 
and advertisers. 

IMKMCA ONLINE has said il plans to bm 
the network assets and customer base 
ol Interne! backbone provider 
Advanced Network & Services, Inc. 

INTEL CORP. has reworked its Gl I lor 
SatisFAXlion hoards, adding dynamic 
link libraries. 

GLOBAL VILLAGE COMMUNICATIONS INC. 

has released One World Combo, a full- 
function, plug-and-plav comm server. 

PRODIGY'S joint venture between IBM 
and Sears, Roebuck oi G>. is planning 

to cut it workforce bv 100. down to 600. 



It appears the move is being blamed on 
lack ol profits. 

NINTENDO OF AMERICA INC. says it will 
license a system to play video games 
over telephone lines. 

CONNECTSOFr IMC. has announced a 
complete upgrade to its flagship E-Mail 
Connection. The product gives users 
direct connections with the mail sys- 
tems ol America Online. CompuServe 
and Prodigy, as well as the Internet. 

DOW JONES BUSINESS INFORMATION 

SERVICES will soon be a major contribu- 
tor of business news and financial 

information mi eWorld, the interactive 
■ inline sen ice In >mi \pple Computer. 








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MARCH 1995 BBS MAGAZIHE 



Winner Of The 1994 Dvorak 

Award For Outstanding 

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e knew we had a winner on our hands when we introduced die most feature 
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Bakersfield, CA 93306 • Phone (805) 873"-2500 
Fax (805) 873-2599 • BBS (805) 873-2400 

QmiwemPro, Ihe MSI hixa loeo and artwort arc Irafcnmks olSJjslacs Soflftat. loc. 
— CopmghlOt987-I»l.Allri{hsin£nai. 

Call toll-free for more information 
or the name of the dealer nearest vou 

1-800-663-1886 

Customer service hours: 8 am to 5 pm, PST. Monday through Friday 



H0W TO GET YOUR FREE MOUSE PAD 

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favorite software retailer before March 3 1 , 1995. Then send back the registration card 
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— along with your registration can! — lo receive a Mustang mouse pad while supplies last Void where 
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with product registration card. Please allow 2-3 weeks for your mouse pad to arrive. 



Send in Musiang Software. Inc.. 6100 Lake Ming Road. Bakmfield. CA 93306 



BBS 



LUorldgroup 



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Victory Alpha System rev. 



File YJew lools Options Window Help 



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We're frequently impressed with the 
swift advancements popping up in 
nearly all aspects of BBS Software. It 
seems that even before the ink dries on 
the review of one package, another sys- 
tem comes along groomed to top it. 

This kind of rapid-fire competition 
likely spells salad days ahead for users 
on both ends of the telephone line: 
callers reap the visceral rewards, 
sysops benefit from happy callers. And 
this is true, now more than ever, in the 
public and private sector. 

One shining example of this one- 
upmanship comes from the Florida- 
based Galacticomm, developers of The 
Major BBS. For the last two years the 



company has been covertly shaping a 
product by taking all of the elements of 
earlier incarnations of The Major and 
transplanting them into a whole new 
arena — often doubling, sometimes 
quadrupling, the thoroughness of each 
of those elements along the way. In 
Galacticomm's eyes, this is not a BBS, 
but a client/server information manage- 
ment system powerful enough for major 
corporations, and yet lucid enough to 
wow any teen-age caller or sysop. In 
short, an online system for every 
"group" in the world. 

We call it a remarkable bulletin 
board system for Windows. They call it 

Worldgroup. 

1 Continues... 



MARCH 1995 BBS MAGAZINE 




'We're talking about a unification of email, workgroup, customer 
service, sales, support, EDI, Internet — all into one cross-pollinating, 
easy-to-use, Windows platform. I think this will be the future of 
business-to-business online commerce, with or without the Internet." 

Scott Brinker 



Galacticomm's new Worlclgrmip. to 
which BUS Magazine was granted an 

early look, is (he company's i'ir.sl foray 
into the field of Windows BBSing 
(begun by Excalibur BBS. Mediallosi 
and FILKX). 

Worldgroup is a turbocharged and 
multilait'lcd l> HS llial draws ils pei'snn- 
ality from ttiree key laclors: a complete- 
l\ redesigned tnulti-lhreaded protocol. 
a basis in the \ isnal Basic program- 
ming language and ils allocation of 



resources lo die client instead of the 
server. Upload, download, send email. 
chat, and share a full-color, mouse-dri- 
ven, real-time drawing board with other 
callers — all al the same time and 
without serious performance reduction. 
It is the brainchild of Galacticomm 
founder and sometimes author Tim 
Slryker. who has since turned the pro- 
ject over to Chris Robert (director of 
technology) and Bert Love hire presi- 
dent of research and development), as 



well as Galacticomm's Bill Hyatt. Don 
Pitchford, Tim Stark. Jack \lvrus. 
Charles Dunn, and Dan Rhea, con- 
tributing applications-level develop- 
ment over the past year. 

Company President and CEO Scott 
Brinker says tin- intention from the out- 
set has been "lo give sysops the ability 
to run (heir own 'America Online,* and 
in the business world, to many the 
power of workgroup/email technology 
with the open communication of online 
services." Hence, the name 
Worldgroup. 

On that subject, Brinker said the 
name came to him while sketching out 
a diagram relating tliis workgroup/ 
email market to the commercial online 
service market. 

"The two sets don't intersect, and as 
a result there is ibis empty applications 

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MARCH 19S5 BBS MAGAZINE 



UJorldpup quick-tour 



Using the Worldgroup client is as easy as using Windows. Once the 
caller installs the free software on his system, the Online Service 
Manager pops up as a group on the screen. Then as a board is 
dialed— via clicking on an icon pre-programmed with all the vital 
information such as user name and password— up comes the main 
system. This is a menu box displaying icons leading to 
Teleconference, Information Center, Forums, Electronic Mail, File 
Libraries, Account Display/Edit. Polls and Questionnaires, Doors, and 
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the message immediately, or save the message in the out box for 
later transmission. Want incoming messages bounced to an email 
address? Worldgroup does it. 

FORUMS 

Choosing the Forums icon launches callers into a slick environment 
for asynchronous group discussions, both "inside" (through a LAN) 
and through modems, X.25 and Internet. 

As many as 10,000 forums can be created here, including both 
local and networked forums. 

Each forum displays messages in chronological order as well as 
by topic "threads." When reading a message, the caller can choose 
to post a public reply, send private email to the author, file it in the 
filing cabinet, copy the message to someone else, download attached 
files, clip the address of the author or directed recipient, or display a 
map of the conversation's thread. 

The caller also has the option to scan messages by keyword, and 
to choose only new messages, messages directed to him, those with 
a particular starting date, or only those with a selected keyword. 
From the menu, callers can then look up information on each forum 
such as description, Forum-Op, number of messages, files, threads, 
surcharges, or message lifetime. 

And if the user chooses to work offline, all that's required is the 
selection of the "download messages" command— all new mes- 
sages and tagged threads are then sent to the client. 



MAIL 

Selecting the Email icon brings up the window for writing new mes- 
sages, checking the in and out boxes, retrieving stored messages 
from the filing cabinet, and managing the address book. 

Nice features here include the caller's ability to use check-box 
options to request a return receipt, tag the message as "urgent" or 
decide whether the list of carbon copy addresses will be shown to 
each addressee. Buttons at the bottom of the window let the caller 
attach a file to the message (through a common Windows dialog 
box), set options for saving the message in the filing cabinet, send 



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Hey thene. folks.! 

Remembci,. the articles ,i re going to pie-date our targeted release lime frame, so 
make sure you ■.::■■ up to ipeed on all facett of the product, ax there will not be 
a demo you can tend to pf oipeclive cuilomen yet. 

•Scott 

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FILE LIBRARIES 

Worldgroup gives the sysop the capacity to create as many libraries 
as he wants, including ones located on network drives and CD- 
ROMS. Once inside the application, members can search the libraries 
(those they have access to) by date, file name, description keywords, 
or popularity, selecting only those libraries he wishes to search. To 
browse a specific library, the caller just chooses an "info" button to 
display the library's description, number of files, files added today, 
files added this week, who the Lib-Op is, any surcharges, file restric- 
tions, etc. 

Once files are selected for download, the caller then clicks the 
Download Manager icon to take them all, hold particular files or can- 
cel any of them. Or. he can just opt to download them later. 

Uploading files requires the caller to click the proper toolbar but- 



C NT I M ES 



MARCH 1995 BBS MAGAZINE 



13 



space between them. So what do you 
call an intersection between work- 
groups and the world? Worldgroup. 
And unlike workgroup, which implies 
drudgery, the word 'worldgroup' con- 
jures up images of people interacting 
with each other." said Brinker. "And 
whether you're talking business or con- 
sumer systems, the point behind all of 
this is to bring everyone closer togeth- 
er." 

The original working name for the 
system was (Project) Victory, an 
unquestionably optimistic moniker. 
But, as Brinker recatls, everyone he 
showed the alpha software to agreed 
that it was far more than a BBS. 

"So after much debate, we decided 
to give the product a new name, to real- 
ly emphasize the paradigm shift this 
release will bring to the market. But 
I'm proud of our BBS heritage, and for 
all practical purposes, Worldgroup is 
The Major BBS Version 7." 

Asked what he considered some of 
the more notable parts making up the 
whole now known as Worldgroup, 
Brinker immediately mentions the 



client/sei-vei' "solution:" the placement 
of much of the work on the back of the 
client, which resides in the caller's 
machine. 

"The applications primarily inn on 
the caller's computer, which allows you 
to make full use of multimedia presen- 
tations, offline operation, and local 
CPU horsepower," Brinker said. "At 
the same time, this frees up loading on 
the server, too. It's a beautifully bal- 
anced relationship."' 

On tht- callciV side, said Brinker. 
"it's Windows — the real thing. It's 
intuitive, it's easy to use." 

Indeed it is. Workgroup's email, for 
instance, is modeled after the best of 
LAN-based mail packages: an address 
book, cut-and-paste clipboard support, 
visual sorting in the user's in and out 
boxes, a local filing cabinet, and user 
preferences for auto-forwarding mail. 

In Workgroup's Forums. Brinker 
enthuses, "you can list messages by 
topic thread (similar to CompuServe's 
WINCIM), you can see a graphical map 
of who replied to what message: jusl 
click on a button to download (in the 



background) all the latest messages, 
click on a different button, and so on. 
Need help? Just click on the help 
button — there's one on every win- 
dow — and full hypertext Windows help 
is at your fingertips. We spent a lot of 
time making the online help jusl right." 

Brinker continues with his "best-of" 
by illustrating the file transfer func- 
tions, one of which has eliminated the 
confusion of XA7ZMODEM. 

'The user now has two choices: 
'download now' or 'download later,'" 
Brinker said. 'He can jusl double-click 
on a file in the library to download it. 
Or. he can review a list of files offline. 
collect his picks in the download man- 
ager, and then just batch-download 
everything with a single command but- 
ton. All the file dialog boxes are stan- 
dard \\ iridows." 

In the telecnulerence area (accessi- 
ble, as with all features, with a mouse 
click) callers can have a chat window 
open while they're transferring files 
back-and-forlh between users in back- 

C N Tvl N I E S ... 



Polls and Questionnaires 



file Iflew Help 



\& 1 



Description 



P HI DEPARTMENT SURVEY 

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P / TECHPOLL 

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C Good 

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S Good 

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F Neve* tmtttd art il 



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B (25.00%) 
C (25.00%) 

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14 



MARCH 1995 BBS MAGAZINE 



Using the Worldgroup client is as easy as using Windows. Once the 
caller installs the free software on his system, the Online Service 
Manager pops up as a group on the screen. Then as a board is 
dialed— via clicking on an icon pre-programmed with all the vital 
information such as user name and password— up comes the main 
system. This is a menu box displaying icons leading to 
Teleconference, Information Center, Forums, Electronic Mail, File 
Libraries, Account Display/Edit, Polls and Questionnaires, Doors, and 
Registry of Users. 

MAIL 

Selecting the Email icon brings up the window for writing new mes- 
sages, checking the in and out boxes, retrieving stored messages 
from the filing cabinet, and managing the address book. 

Nice features here include the caller's ability to use check-box 
options to request a return receipt, tag the message as "urgent" or 
decide whether the list of carbon copy addresses will be shown to 



*> 






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u. 



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each addressee. Buttons at the bottom of the window let the caller 
attach a file to the message (through a common Windows dialog 
box), set options for saving the message in the filing cabinet, send 
the message immediately, or save the message in the out box for 
later transmission. Want incoming messages bounced to an email 
address? Worldgroup does it. 

FORUMS 

Choosing the Forums icon launches callers into a slick environment 
for asynchronous group discussions, both "inside" (through a LAN) 
and through modems, X.25 and Internet. 

As many as 1 0,000 forums can be created here, including both 
local and networked forums. 

Each forum displays messages in chronological order as well as 
by topic "threads." When reading a message, the caller can choose 
to post a public reply, send private email to the author, file it in the 
filing cabinet, copy the message to someone else, download attached 
files, clip the address of the author or directed recipient, or display a 
map of the conversation's thread. 

The caller also has the option to scan messages by keyword, and 
to choose only new messages, messages directed to him, those with 
a particular starting date, or only those with a selected keyword. 
From the menu, callers can then look up information on each forum 
such as description, Forum-Op, number of messages, files, threads, 
surcharges, or message lifetime. 



Online Service Manager 



File Options Window Help 



_Mallnnjil Systems 



Interne! Connections 



Online Service Properties 



■ B Name: ||Victorii Server Suite 101 



rWhen lo conned 

* Always connect upon invoking this service 
O Hun ofllMie until "Connect" button is pressed 



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O Serial 

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□ Log on a* new user 



Uiei-.D: |JeH torello 
Password: »■■■■ 



Advanced.. 



And if the user chooses to work offline, all that's required is the 
selection of the "download messages" command— all new mes- 
sages and tagged threads are then sent to the client. 

FILE LIBRARIES 

Worldgroup gives the sysop the capacity to create as many libraries 
as he wants, including ones located on network drives and CD- 
ROMS. Once inside the application, members can search the libraries 
(those they have access to) by date, file name, description keywords, 
or popularity, selecting only those libraries he wishes to search. To 
browse a specific library, the caller just chooses an "info" button to 
display the library's description, number of files, files added today, 
files added this week, who the Lib-Op is, any surcharges, file restric- 
tions, etc. 

Once files are selected for download, the caller then dicks the 
Download Manager icon to take them all, hold particular files or can- 
cel any of them. Or, he can just opt to download them later. 

Uploading files requires the caller to click the proper toolbar but- 
ton, select which library he wants the files in, and then, from a dialog 
box, pick which files are to be sent. Both up and downloading can be 
performed in the background as the caller moves to other areas of 
the board. 

TELECONFERENCE 

Real-time conversations are always popular, especially with the big- 
ger commercial services. In Worldgroup, the Teleconference is multi- 
channel, and each channel can have a moderator setting a topic. 
Channel discussions are displayed in a scrolling TTY format, with a 
split-screen window for each user to type in his responses — a user 
preference may determine whether the conversation window contin- 
ues to scroll or not while the user is writing his messages. 

Next, each caller can open a floating window displaying a list of 
all other users in his channel. Each can send private whispers or 
request a one-on-one chat. Whispers and chat requests appear in the 
window in a different color. 

Callers can then scan other channels for topics and users, and, 
with a mouse click, join the desired channel. Once in the new chan- 
nel, the scrollback buffer allows the new participant to catch up on 



MARCH 1395 BBS MAGAZINE 



15 



ground mode. At the same time, the) 
ran bring up a drawing board where 
others online can generate sketches 
with -their mouse in living color, arid 
everyone sees it simultaneously and in 
real-time. 

"All of ihis happens at once via our 
multi-threaded protocol." said Brinker. 
"And third-parties are already talking 
about enhancing this with thumbnail 
(ill's ot eaeh user in a list box. You just 
click on whoever you want, and send a 
whisper to join a one-on-one chat.'" 

Brinker says he could "iii> on and on 
about the user interface," noting its 
color bar charts users can bring up with 
i click in Pulls and Questionnaires, ihe 
simple toolbar shortcuts in every appli- 
cation and unlimited Ble display pages. 

"But to sum it up." he says, "the 



power of (his for users is that it's easj 
to use. has the graphical sex appeal 
everyone wants, and on top of thai. 
delivers real-world applications tech- 
nology thai until now has been absent 
from the BBS market." 

On (he sysop side of \\ orldgroup. 
operators can easih swap icons and 
Help files without having to touch 
Visual Basic. "We retained much of the 
configurability thai has made The 
Major BBS so successful," Brinker 
said. "\\ e've even maintained back- 
wards compatibility for most Version 6 
third-parly modules on the server. For 
example, if a sysop has the 
ASCII/ANSI nnilli-user Trade Wars 
module, he can still run it on his 
\\ orldgroup platform. And when 
client/server users click on the Trade 



Wars icon, lliey will smoothly drop into 
a terminal mode window where they 
can pla\ the game. \\ hen they exit, it 
returns them to client/se\er mode.'" 

Again, key to \V orldgroup is that it 
isn't merely a Windows front-end to the 
Major BBS. Instead of the BBS 
machine (the server) driving the appli- 
cations, the actual program executable* 
are running on the user's machine, the 
client. 

"The server just becomes more of a 
'data server.' from which the client 
requests things." Brinker said. "In this 
way. the server can deai with any arbi- 
trary data — compressed images, dis- 
tributed dBase records, whatever — and 
jusl pipes ii down to the client, which 
then handles all the real work." 

C o N t in.U-.EJ5 ... 




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| Chris Robert 
| Chris Robert 
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Dote: Thursday Daeember 1 5. 1 994 1 (MM ! AM 

From: Dan Rhea 

To: -ALL- 

Topic: Registry 



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MARCH 1995 BBS MAGAZINE 



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"The power of this lor users is that its easy to use, has the graphical 
sex appeal everyone wants, and on top of all of that, delivers real- 
world applications technology that until now has been absent from the 
BBS market." Scott Brinher, Galacticomm 



Blinker sees this as opening up ;i 
"universe of possibilities" thai couldn'l 
even begin to lie considered under the 
Iradilioual BBS-lo-duinb-leriniiial 
model. "There's a good reason wliv the 
rest ol the computing world is migrating 
in Hocks to the client/server paradigm: 
il maximizes power for (he users and 
flexibility lor the hosl server."' he said. 

In this respect, it should be pointed 
out. part ol this model requires the 
server to accept full responsibility for 
all security issues, which the 
\\ oi Idgroup ii'ii ■•; does indeed do, 

"S\ -.ops can use our familial I ocks 
and Keys method of restricting access 
lo particular features or data areas, pre- 
venting anyone from making "hacked" 
versions oi client programs to try to do 
things lliey shouldn't." said Brinkcr. 
"Kadi ]>iece of data accessed by the 
client — we call them "dvnapaks" — can 
be checked lo verify thai the User-ID 
and password lhal arc associated vsith 
thai particular client have permission 
to retrieve it." 



Visual basics 



Worldgroiip's basis in Visual Basic 
presents obvious advantages when add- 
ons and enhancements are considered. 
Anyone familiar with the fairly simple 
VB can lake the Worldgroup environ- 
ment jusl about anywhere thev want. 
Speaking ol some uf those specific 
advantages. Blinker looks to the stan- 
dardization of VB, saying "you don't 
have to learn any proprietary- paint pro- 
gram. 

"You can buy books, you can take 
courses, you can hire consultants, you 
can use off-the-shelf tools, you can gel 
worldwide technical support" for 
Visual Basic. 

Secondly, he says, "il's incredibly 
easy to use. Anyone can write simple 
\B applications. As part of our client 
developer's kit, we'll even include most 
ol the VB source to our applications, so 
people can just tweak them and add in 
their own graphics and multimedia 
bites," he said. 

CONTINI E S ... 



Electronic Mali 



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18 



MARCH 1995 BBS MAGAZINE 



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""Third, you can put power under ihe 
hood. Use Visual Basic to develop your 
user interface, hut then you can use C 
and Assembly to write 'heavy' routines 
that can then be called from VB," he 
said, "ft did this for our client com- 
munications and database engines. Or. 
you can write everything in V'B — it's 
your choice." 

The fourth major point deals with 
the range of VB custom controls pro- 
grammers can choose from: "Several 
hundred commercial VH developers 
oiler things such as plug-in JPEG, GIF, 
TIFF. PCX support, compression and 
encryption technologies — a plethora of 
user interface gadgets." Blinker said. 

"And the great thing abotil this is that 
lor all these technologies and new ones 
yet to come, you don't have to wail for 
Galacticomm to develop them. 11 anyone 
develo] is a tool for \ B. and a huge wave of 
people do. you can use it right away. For 
that matter, anything you can do in 
W indows vou can add to vour Worldgroup 
applications without Galacticomm even 
having to know alxtul it." 

And since VB has proven such a 
success in the general market, there are 
already beta versions waiting for 
^ indows 95. Therefore, users can 
smoothly upgrade. Blinker assures, to 
that platform when il comes out. "You 
won't have lo wait two years for 
Galacticomm lo develop support for it. 



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You'll jusl have it inherently through 
this model." 

But suppose you have no desire to 
learn VB. hut still want the henefits of 
some of ilit- potentially incredible 
applications possible with the lan- 
guage? Galacticomm's answer is sim- 
ple: third-parties. 

The company has always considered 
its third-parly developers lo he one of 
its iwo higgest strengths, the other 
being the open architecture of the prod- 
uct itself. 

Worldgroup lakes liiis lo a whole 
new level now. allowing developers lo 
run wild with (lie possibilities. 




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"Some ol ihe applications possible 
include online shopping with J FUG 
color photos, 'replicating" client/server 
databases, workgroup suiles including 
project managemenl tools, I oca l/re mole 
sales and inventory systems, awesome 
multiplayer games with animation and 
sound and control via joystick or mouse 
(or eventually \ It glines and helmets), 
collections of 'global' command floating 
toolbars, and matchmaker programs with 
MPEG video clips," Brinker says. "In 
addition, all those 500,000 Visual Basic 
programmers out (here are now going to 
be able to use (his as a toolkit for creat- 
ing custom online services and hot new 
add-on modules. I think we're going to 
see this entile market explode with cool 
extensions ol every shape and color." 



Going big-time 



This brings up the question of "how far 
can ibis go?" Thai is. will sysops truly 
he running "little America Onlines" as 
previously suggested — services that 
exceed the flexibility and erase (he lim- 
itations ol if.- huge commercial mil ine 
service? Brinker thinks so. admitting 
\\ orldgroup shares AOL's characteris- 
tic advantage of a standard \Y indows 
interface. "But it goes beyond that in a 
number of ways. 

"Our multi-threaded protocol elimi- 



(J () M T [ X I V. S ... 



20 



MARCH 1995 BBS MAGAZINE 



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Have it your way 



For individuals and organizations seeking their 
own place in cyberspace, but feel a little like 
Will Robinson and the crew of "Lost in Space," 
Galacticomm's recently formed Network and 
Integrated Services Division (NIS) might have a 
solution. 

According to Galacticomm, NIS will plan 
and implement interactive solutions to get 
organizations up and running fast with their 
own custom-tailored online service. 

"We created this new division to give these 
customers everything they need for a 
professional online service," said 
Scott Brinker, Galacticomm CEO, 
"from software and hardware 
components to business and 
marketing strategies." 

NIS' plan is to stay on top of all the latest 
technologies to help clients gain a competitive 
edge in the marketplace. Currently, the Internet 
is the "killer app," according to Brinker. NIS will 
help organizations create their own interactive 
services on the Net and offer Internet access to 
employees, customers and others. 

World Wide Web (WWW), probably the 
hottest place for organizations to promote 
themselves or disseminate information over the 
Internet, will be utilized as a locale for NIS- 
designed WWW sites with hypertext-linked 
multimedia pages that users can navigate with 
Mosaic and other browsers. 

Other services NIS can integrate for clients 
include email and wide-area workgroup 
applications, customer service systems, secure 
online ordering, electronic commerce programs 



nates a lot of the waiting that AOL 
clients tend to experience. For instance, 
with Workgroup, you can download 
updates in the background and von can 
do mail transfers in liic background." 
he said. "Our applications arc also more 



flew division offers 
custom services 



(EDI), document and information 
dissemination, and databases. NIS will consult 
with clients to get a clear picture of the system 
they are envisioning, and then produce a 
blueprint for making it happen. With out-of-the- 
box software from Galacticomm and Integrated 
Software Vendors (ISVs) — combined with 
custom programming, if necessary — NIS 
plans to offer complete online solutions. And on 
a smaller scale. Galacticomm says the division 
will offer simple fine-tuning of existing systems. 

For organizations with in-house systems 
analysts, the division offers training in the 
areas of configuring and managing an online 
system. Training courses for end-users are 

also available. In addition, yearly 
support contracts offer 
advanced technical support to 
assist in-house staff in 
configuring their systems, 
establishing network connections, creating new 
services, and other special projects, 

NIS is being guided by Galacticomm 
newcomer Ken Royer, most recently with the 
U.S. Department of Commerce, where he was 
the systems manager for FedWorld Information 
Network — a system recognized by many as 
the best government BBS. 

"NIS will bring clients the knowledge of 
online technology that we've gained as the 
world's leading online software developer, as 
well as a fresh perspective in creating onlines 
solutions," Royer said. "By outsourcing system 
integration, organizations will save time and 
money. They'll eliminate the cost of hiring a 
high-level developer, and we'll ensure that they 
select (he most cost-effective and appropriate 
products to create a successful online service." 



client-oriented, and can be used in an 
offline mode much more effectively." 

Hul (he big difference between 
Worldgroup and America Online is the 
sysop. 

"Anyone can run their own 

Worldgroup. 




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and they can 
run it the way 
they like it, with 
whatever con- 
tent and appli- 
cations they 
want to offer," 
Brinker said. 

'It's 100 per- 
cent under their 
control, and 
they get 100 
percent of ihe 
revenue and 



brand recognition generated from their 
efforts. You can't do thai with America 
Online." 

UJorldnet 

On ilie Internet front, AOL and other 
services have hustled different varia- 
tions of connectivity, trying desperately 
to meel user demand. Galacticomm is 
not losl on this point either. 

Oil the server side of Worldgroup, 
sysops can use ihe Internet 
Connectivity Option (ICO) lo add full 
telnet in and out, FTP client and server, 
and basic WWW server capabilities. 

"In about a month. Version 2.0 of 
ihe ICO will be released, and il will 
include SMTP. N.NTP. and pass- 
through SLIP, among olhcr goodies." 
Brinker said. 

"On ihe client, we've included sup- 
port for telnet connections, so thai if 
the user has something like WINSOCK 
installed, he can just ride on top of that 
and connect into a Worldgroup server 
running the ICO. The entire 
Worldgroup client/server protocol can 
run smoothly on to]) of telnet — in 
effect, we're just using the Internet as a 
relatively low-cost, relatively high- 
bandwidth network." 

And. as Galacticoinm's assures, the 
system fully supports all modems, seri- 
al. LAN, X.25. Internet and ISDN. 



7 



for uuhom, QJorldgroup 

Initially. Calaclicomm sees current 
sysops moving lo ihe Worldgroup plat- 
form (or upgrading at a special deal for 
existing Major customers — whose 
number lops 22.000) for, as they pul il, 
one simple reason: it will give ihem the 
access to win subscribers from mass 
market audiences. 

"If you can combine the vertical/ 
regional specialization of BBSs, along 
with the dynamic innovation of sysops," 
says Brinker. "along with ihe interface 
of America Online, and loss in lull 
Internet support, you've got a power- 
house combination." 

Brinker said he also thinks 
Worldgroup "will be just the ticket" for 
businesses seeking ihe besl way to get 
online, and In lie in their outside uorld 
communicalions with 1 heir inside 
human resources. 



22 



MARCH 1995 BBS MAGAZINE 



"We're talking about a unification nl 
email, workgroup, customer service, 
sales, support. Kl)l. Inleniel — all into 
one cross-pollinating, easy-to-use, 
Windows platform, lie said. "I iliink 
litis will lie llie future of business-lo- 
business online commerce, \t itli or 
without the Internet." 

Galacticomm plans a shipping dale 
for Wnrldgroup of late Mareh or early 
April. Tile street price will remain 
below $500, although, as Blinker 
points out, "we'll be giving people waj 
more for their monev than am other 



alternalive. I slill iliink the power of 
this technology is in the masses, and 1 
want lllis to be within the reach of any- 
one who's serious ahoui starting their 

own online service." 

The upgrade price for existing Major 
customers has not yel been set. I >■ 1 1 
Galacticomm claims very special deals 
await these svsops. The client-side 
de\elopnielit kit will sell for under 8500. 

For more information contact 
Oalaclicomm at 800.328.1 128. Or 
email (sales) at sales@econun.com. 



3 
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The Juggling Protocol 

The Galacticomm Client/Server Protocol (GCSP) 
is a true multi-threaded protocol, which allows 
up to 32 simultaneous "threads" between each 
client machine and server. Callers can update 
their database application while uploading new 
mail and downloading the latest messages from 
chosen newsgroups. "It maximizes your use of 
bandwidth." says Scott Brinker, Galacticomm 
CEO. 

The GCSP is also fully error-correcting, so 
callers are virtually guaranteed reliable 
communications. Even under varying line 
conditions, it's not susceptible to damage from 
line noise as ANSI and linear graphical languages 
can be. 

"On top ot this connection, the server and 
client talk with 'dynapaks' that can represent data 
and/or calls to 'agent' services on the BBS 
server. 

Dynapaks are uniquely named and can be up 
to 1 BK blocks ot ASCII or binary data, or they can 
specify any arbitrary binary file of any length," 
Brinker said. "And then on top of that, we offer 
services to the API such as file transfer 
capabilities. For Workgroup, we actually 
developed our own tile transfer windov/ed 
protocol, similar to ZMODEM. with CRC32 error- 
correction and a full-duplex architecture, that lets 
it simultaneously send bytes in both directions 
without delay." 

All of this was built at the low-level with C 
and Assembly, and was structured according to 
the standard OSI layer mode! to facilitate future 
porting and "extendibility." 

"But those are the raw technical pieces." says 
Brinker. "The real power ot the GCSP is its 
availability as a Visual Basic API for client 
application development." 




MARCH 1995 BBS MAGAZINE 



23 




■*- In addition to complete documentation, TBBS 
comes with a 40 minute installation video tape. 

■ Number of simultaneous, full-speed ZMODEM 
downloads at 38.4 kbps on a single P5/60 CPU 





£K§^£i=^ "*3SSC?r 



W^ 




LAC 



a The high reliability of TBBS means its power 
won't turn on you. No babysitting required. 

► TBBS' unprecedented flexibility lets your BBS 
talk to your callers in their language. 




a The test was conducted in the cSoft Testing Lab. 
Each PC represents one BBS user. 

< A 64-line TBBS and Internet Protocol Adapter 
(IPAD). Minimum hardware - maximum power. 




JHnUSN 



BOBS 



j&Sfc*- 



I«S 



SE5SPS9KKSS 






Sek 







,'-.'•■'■■:■ 



When your BBS succeeds, you'll need the power 



mmEfgmS$ESH£&^ 9S^ 



B sBprJ 



to back it up - and you won't want to buy a 



WMSafffi 



■mr^b 



room full of computers to get it. For years, TBBS 



■■■BBbH 



has stood alone at the top of the power curve in 



. : BIS 



BBS software. It still does. To prove it, we put all types of BBS software in a room and tested them. As the graph on the left 



,i-*Jy£S8 . sasEni £»&.* 



SbkIu IJWHQ p ? ffiS p3K M Jl fctf^ teiBM 



shows, the closest competitor can't deliver half the speed and power of TBBS 2.3. To complement its speed and power, 



M\ 



flfKl 



■■■■ 



TBBS delivers unprecedented flexibility and 



BSMEftsfcni&i 



smooth expandability - on the minimum 



hardware possible. So scaling up as your 



: ■■ "i :■■■'■. '■ 



ligw^j-^''.tX'JifcSaP 



system grows won't stress either your 



m$ 



'■-:-'-'■■:. : . 



.:•?>£. -,A 



hb<- 




SBB 



- ■ 



I 



1 



■■■] 
■ 1 












SHIRHb raw 









budget or your sanity. And TBBS is backed by eSoft - the company with the most computer communications knowledge 



■ : *^-i- 3r«fe. 



and expertise in the industry. You can buy 64 user TBBS 2.3 for $1,995 (32 user for $1,495, 16 user for $895, and 4 user 



for $295). When you're ready for the only BBS 






product that can truly deliver reliable online 



xBASE databasing, TCP/IP Internet access, 



LAN access and 



high speed modem support in an integrated system, then you're ready to step up to 




TBBS. Call (303) 699-6565 for more information and access to a demonstration system. 



1 5200 E.Girard Ave. 
Suite 3000 
Aurora, CO 80014 



THE BIG BOARDS 

BY TERRY ROSSI 



Art-Biz-Movies-Games 

New entries on the commercial boards 



CompuArt 



Library Sections 1-U 



3 Grammar Expert - Online Help for ' 
£3 The Geometry 01 The Heart 
j THUMBS UP Graphics file pieviev 
HI Aesop's Fable - An interactive Aci 
[2] Adobe Acrobat Reader v2.0 (or M 

QJaic Media Center v2 
HPagePlui Intro A full featured DT 
12] LViewr Image Editor handles JPG, 

EDJPEGView 



Coiii|uiScitc has debuted 

li joint venture between 

art galleries throughout 

the world and the Artist forum (GO 

ARTIST). 

The forum's new Online Gallery 
joins participating galleries with CIS's 
2. I million members. bringing images 
and information online at the same time 
they deliul in the gallery. The premiere 
show features the work of Norwegian 
artist Per Fronth, and is shown in con- 
junction with the Meisner Gallery in 
Ne\s *t nrk and Kunstuset A/S in Oslo. 
It consists of eight large, highly person- 
al photographic images on canvas and 
one photoengraving/composite. In 
addition to being able to download 
images of each featured artist's work, 
(he fomm will present an online 
brochure containing detailed informa- 
tion about the artist, the pieces in the 
exhibit, an artist's statement, and 
thumbnails ol till the pieces, plus pic- 

26 




using > 

\dobc 

Systems' Acrobat file exchange soft- 
ware — which allows Tor the easy 
exchange of complex documents con- 
taining typography and pictures to and 
from an\ computer, regardless of make 
or operating system. A copy of Acrobat 
Reader is required to view the online 
brochures and it can be downloaded for 
no additional charge from Library 1 
(Helpful Software) in the Artist Forum. 
If business is more \ OUT cup of lea. 
Industry Vi eek Interactive is a new "vir- 

MARCH 1995 BBS MAGAZINE 



tual corporation" on CIS. Industry Week 
Publisher Carl Marino defines the term 
"\ irlual corporation" as a new kind of 
organization that can deliver highly 
customized gootls ami services to cus- 
tomers on demand. Virtual corporations 
are characterized by constantly shilling 
roles and responsibilities for employ- 
ees, an absence of organizational 
boundaries and strong alliances u illi 
customers and suppliers. 

The biweekly magazine's online area 



consists of a forum, the current print 
issue, an electronic letters to the editor 
area, a searchable archive of hack 
issues and a store on the CompuServe 
Mall. 

The Forum, called Industry Week 
Virtual Organization. Inc., represents a 
significant departure from the tradition- 
al forum structure in which message 
sections correspond to topics. The mes- 
saging of the Industry Week forum, 
while appearing as a top-down manage- 
ment hierarchy, is really an organiza- 
tion without houndaries featuring open 
lines of communication among the vari- 
ous functions. The sections include the 
Executive Suite, the Bean Counters, 
Product Development, Information 
Systems, Factory Floor, Supply (main, 
Consultants, Grapevine and others. 

"Our goal in taking this approach is 
to foster the same kind of cross-func- 
tional communication as you would Mud 
in a virtual organization." said Marino. 
"In effect, we're creating an environ- 
ment that encourages members to par- 
ticipate in several functional areas to 
develop innovative solutions to both 
real and hypothetical management 
problems. We believe our current read- 
ers will benefit tremendously from the 
online exchange of ideas, and other 
CompuServe members will learn about 
our magazine's approach to business 
management." 

The forum library' includes extensive 
background material on topics covered 
in the magaziut profiles and statisti- 
cal information on the 50 companies 
that have won the magazine's 
"America's Rest Plants" award over the 
past five years, surveys and research 
materials, and 100 reviews ol manage- 
ment books, 

[ndustryWeek will also host online 
conferences with executives and editors 
from the magazine. 



AOL Investing 



In today's economy, investors need up- 
to-date information on the movers and 
shakers in the markets. We've all seen 
film of the ticker tapes Hying across 
rooms of traders. What AOL gives 
investors is the '90s version of all that 
tape. 

Today's computer user is hungry for 
personal money management — just 



Th* VMfc 
Ahead 



& 



s 



MaHSNIOfl 
C*nw* 



ask Intuit, 
the makers 
of 

Quicken. 
AOL has a 
host of ser- 
vices avail- 
able to 
sub- 
scribers to 
help tbem 
slay 

abreast of 
invest- 
ments, 
markets 
and 

money. In late 1994. AOL announced 
the addition of two new services in this 
regard: Investor's Business Daily and 
Vanguard Online (from the Vanguard 
Croup of Investment Companies). 

Investors Business Daily and 
Vanguard Online join Mumiiigsiar 
Mutual Funds, The American 
Association of Individual Investors, 
The Nightly Business Report, Worth 
Online, Consumer Reports and a host 
of other services as part of AOL's finan- 
cial services channel. 

With the addition of Investors 
Business Daily (1BD) subscribers can 
read each day's issue, including a cal- 
endar of the week's events, financial 
news, editorials, executive updates and 
profiles on successful companies and 
individuals in the financial community. 
Additionally, subscribers now have 
access to archives of previous IBD 
issues, and can discuss IBD content 
with other investors through its mes- 
sage boards. 

Vanguard Online features lour topi- 
cal areas — Mutual Fund Center, 
Planning and Strategy, Vanguard News, 
and Communications — through which 
investors may learn more about invest- 
ing in mutual funds, asset allocation, 
retirement planning, and other invest- 
ment-related topics. 

Vanguard provides the editorial con- 
tent and a steady How of new and time- 
ly insinuation. They also maintain a 
library ol fund prospectuses, annual 
reports and other investment-oriented 
information that may be read online, 
printed or downloaded for later review. 
The Communications area includes an 
email service to Vanguard as well as 



Investor's Business Daily 



llie Newspaper For Important Decision Makers 



NATIONAL ISSUE Out With New, In Win The Old 



EDrTORlAL Changing Washington's Rules 

NEWS FOR YOU: A well-Planned Will Keeps Family Harmony 

LEADERS & SUCCESS: Labor Leade« Samuel Gompers • In... 



m a 



interactive message boards through 
which interested fund investors may 
share information and ideas. 

Prodigy jumps on board 

Adopting the policy Delphi look last 
month. Prodigy is helping new users 
adjust bo life online with a free bulletin 
board section. 

With the holiday season past and PC 
sales up 35 percent over the same peri- 
od last year, Prodigy saw a vast group 
of "newbies" coming online. With 
Prodigy software installed on four out of 
five new PC's sold through retail out- 
lets, the company has made special 
plans to get these new fish acclimated 
to the water. The new bulletin board 
called (what else?) "New Member 
Bulletin Board" allows unlimited and 
free access during the members' first 
90 days on the service. 

Questions in the "BB" range from the 
basic — "How do I enroll another Family 
Member; 1 " — to I he more complex. 

The BB is staffed by employees, 
special contributors and subscribers 
acting as mentors to help answer new 
members' questions about the basics of 
going online, including accessing the 
Internet, sending email, using chat and 
bulletin boards, importing and export- 
ing files, and recommendations on 
areas to explore. The New Members 
Bulletin Board can be reached by 
JUMPing to "new member bb." 

All the news that fits: Thai's what 
you get when you read Usenet news- 
groups (or "news" as it is known here). 

I send is the network of conferences 



MARCH 1995 BBS MAGAZINE 



Cor* t ikce s 

27 • 



Send A Private Heply 












Iroot@plcspc01 .plcs.com 



Subject I He: lest 




This is a reply to your newsgroup posting in nj.tcst 



root@picspcDl.pics.com [Charlie Root) wrote: 

> 

>Path: 

prodigy,com!prodigy.com!panixlnews.intercon.com!uhog,mlt.edu!sgifjlal)!swri 

ndelpipex!uunet!gossip.pyramid.com!decwrl!decwrl!twwells!picspc01.pics.co 

mlplcspcOl .pics. com!not far-mail 

>From: root@picspcDl.pics.com (Charlie Root) 

>Ncwsgroups: nj.lcst 

>Sub[ect: test 

>Date: 26 Dec 1 934 1 9:41 :39 -0000 

>Organization: Pics OnLine BBS - telnet bbs.pics.com or 609/753 -2540 

>Lines: 1 

>MessagHD: <3dr>G9jSf5@picspc01 .pics.com> 

>NNTP-Posting-Host: picspc01.pics.com 

> 

> 



which sprang oul of the early days of 
the [nternel and UUCP-based mail sys- 
tem. 1 1 is literally 350MB of confer- 
ences per day. and il i- now available 
on Prodigy for subscribers. 

flic service lias created a greal user 
interface for reading Usenet news 
online. Members can subscribe to 
newsgroups, grab the group's FAQ 
(Frequently Asked Questions), read 
articles by thread (similar topics) and 
add custom signatures lo each piece of 



outbound mail. 

IVodigy lias incorporated some of 
ibe advanced features in UNIX-based 

news leaders that I didn'l expect to 
find. Features such as Ignore List 
(which allow you to ignore a subject or 
person), personal replies via email 
instead oi news, cuslom signature files, 
keyword searches and many others. 
Jump USENET on Prodigy, wade 
through the legal disclaimers, pick your 
newsgroups, and away you go. 



COHVt 



Cdsts 



s * 



\ 
\ 

V 

I 
I 

I 

I 



f income^" (naketo y ou.- 




Voice: (817) 581-93B0, Fax: (817) 788-3046, BBS: (817) 788-3038 



Delphi goes to the movies. 

Ever wanted lo know about how films 
are made, about an actor or actress, 
about how special effects are executed? 
If so, the Entertainment section on 
Delphi should be your first slop, A 
quick trip to GO Entertainment on 
Delphi will show you they're well con- 
nected: 

• Astra Predictions 

• Penn & Teller 

• Chal and Chat Games SIG 

■ Rolling Stones Critics' Choice 
Reviews 

• Hykodisc Online 

• Entertainment News (Variety) 

• Star Trek: The Forum 

• FOXtalk 

• Studio Briefing 

• fX Cable Channel 

• Trivia Club 

• TV/Movie Group 

• Hollywood Online 

• 20th Century Fox Films 

• Movie Center 

• X-Files 

• Movie Hi \ iews h\ ( lineman 

• Music Faudom 

1 took the lime to browse through the 
loruius and found some really interest- 
ing information. I started my trip at 
"Hollywood Online." the online source 

C (l \ T I Pi 1 K S ... 



BBS INCOME 



"(66 Report on how to go from 

$0 to $3,000 per month in BBS 
income in as little as 90 days! 



This valuable report reveals money 
making information on how to operate a BBS 
tor profit. It outlines powerful marketing 
secrets including unique ways of finding new 
subscriber;, and how to gel them lii p.iv \ini 
top dollar; guaranteed ways to generate 
other revenue plus the secrets to getting free 
publicity and being able to accept credit card 
payments; plus much more. Limited 
quantity. 

Infol. ink 

56089 29 Palms Hwy. Ste 254-CD 

Yucca Valley, CA 922R4 

1 (619) 22S-9553 

FAX1 (619)369-1185 



| Prepared by the publishers of the book 
_ How To Successfully Run A BBS. For Profit. 



28 



MARCH 1995 BBS MAGAZINE 



Full Text Searching 

Need to add powerful full path text 
searching software to your business 
BBS? Cheetah is the solution! 

Cheetah was designed by APDI, a leader in the BBS service 
industry. APDI listened to corporations, associations and 
government agencies who need a simple full text searching software 
to work with their BBS. From these talks APDI designed and 
developed Cheetah. 

Cheetah enables you to search online for any combination of words 
in seconds! Cheetah lets your users access large amounts of data 
quickly and easily. 

Cheetah also performs phase and proximity searches. Users can 
specify word proximity within a paragraph or sentence and the file 
viewer conveniently highlights all found text. 

Unlike other full text searching software, Cheetah was specifically 
designed for BBSs. Cheetah keeps track of users* time, left on the 
BBS, mode settings, modem status and even allows users to down- 
load their search results using any compression software they choose. 




rwi-ce companies, in 
th nTM"s WIS Cente 



E.dlt Yicw tJclp 



• =■'"! '.-■! Hi. I 1 

nt iigency 



business and coup 
Patent and Trade-He 
filter icon fled Cros: 

s deyel* 
product for use ir 

lirv'i-i nii.-ri exclusit 
HiidC.it!. PCBo.inl. 



trtbase to . 

size. Users way i 
Fron the mountains 
BBS connected '■" ■ 
■orld's "fastest L 
ILIoi.Jr IKWk II 
Beginning Hie ifci'je tr 




iad text tiles 
JS node or 3 



i Hit* ZHode» triinsfcr iirolo*:ol is 
-tl;iiiiiniiniiui!ih[ll!llil.j,.r.»] ti™»:.rv 



CD! 



j I R'T-" I j Sir I j Uam J [ OPS 



ZjMtfVtXPMK :■-' 



Cheetah handles text and images — newsletters, 
magazines, even government regulations! 

Cheetah is available in both serial port and Digiboard versions and 
works out of the box on Novell networks. Cheetah comes with an 
unlimited user license per BBS. 

New Cheetah 1.5 version now shipping 

• Images, GIF files 

• Document Date support 

• Sysop Configurable menus 

• Auto open databases 

• Menu-driven maintenance program 

• Usage reports 

• Unlimited hit lists 

• Open multiple databases 

• RIP support 

Cheetah 1.0 can be purchased at SO'* off while supplies last. 

So if you work for a corporation, association or government and run 
a BBS, or just have the task of building one. call APDI at 1-800-785- 
APDI and find out more about Cheetah's ability to give your users 
what they need. 



Business Beat 




Mark Burnett at APDI's BBS Service Bureau 

"The BBS Service Bureau" 

Companies looking for a serious BBS company to provide a wide 
range of services are choosing APDI. APDI is devoted to providing 

professional BBS services to corporations, associations and 
government agencies throughout the United States. 

Typical APDI clients are organizations that need turnkey BBS 
solutions or advanced technical on-site support. APDI provides 
installation and support for WildCat!, Galacticomm, PCBoard, 
TBBS, and Searchlight. APDI is a Certified Mustang Software 
Integrator (CMSI). 

APDI frees up precious time for you and your staff to concentrate on 
marketing your new BBS. 

Most of APDI's corporate customers find it advantageous to let 
APDI run the BBS for them at APDI's location. APDI provides all 
equipment (like the BBS center shown above) and handles all 
technical support and navigation issues on your BBS. APDI's fiber- 
optic cabling ensures crystal clear connections and communications 
to your bulletin board system. 

Many businesses wish to put a database online but find it difficult 
to locate programmers with the skills to assist them. APDI has a 
skilled database development staff and is on the FoxPro and 
Paradox development teams. 

Now APDI puts your BBS on: 

• Internet 

• X.25 Packet Switched Network 

Call and find out why so many of the largest corporations in the 
world dial into an APDI BBS every day! 

yiPDr 

Application Programming & Development, Inc. 

6805 Coolridge Drive, 2nd Floor 
^w^ Camp Springs, MD 20748 

1-800-785-APDI 

(301) 449-1400 -Voice • (301) 449-6100 -BBS 




for Inside Hollywood. It"s filled with die 
latest in Interactive Multimedia Kits for 
upcoming films, as well as special 
photo images, video clips and inter- 
views with your favorite stars. 

The Hollywood Online Forum is 
structured with a software library 
devoted to each of the movies il fea- 
tures, all [Kicked with informative mul- 
timedia, photos, sound and movie 
notes. Hollywood Online's message 
hoards also offer a wide range of dis- 
cussion topics for movies and entertain- 
ment. It's rounded out with the usual 
Delphi goodies like Usenet news- 
groups, conferences and databases. 
Forrest Gump was one of the fea- 
tured movies during in\ visit — a film I 
always wanted to see but never got 
around to. Upon checking out Gump, I 
was surprised to find the forum offered 
quite a bit of informal ion about the 
film, including production notes, 
biographies on Tom 1 hmks and other 
cast members, a detailed description oi 
the script, settings, filming locations 
and other interesting asides. 

If Rock n" Roll is more for vou. then 
the new Rykodisc Forum will likely 
hold an abundance of material to catch 
your interest. 

It is Incused on the medium-sized 




record company RYKO and the artists 
and bauds on their labels. 

The World of ImagiNation 

If you fancy online gaming and enter- 
tainment. Sierra Online has a fairlv new 
service called ImagiNation to whet your 
appetite. 

ImagiNation is set up like the 
eWorld service from die folks at Apple. 
The service is designed around a world 
or nation and the main menu is a map 
to that nation. The service features a 
Post Office to read and send email, a 
Town Hall for help and information, die 
Phone Booth for finding other players 
and friends online, and the real attrac- 
tion — games! 

Among the places to visit is 
MedievaLand. where fantasy role-play- 



ing games — including The Shadow of 
\ serbius and The Fates of Twinion — 
allow players to match their skills 
against the dragons, monsters and dan- 
gers within a maze of dungeons. 

SierraLand is the electronic amuse- 
ment park of ImagiNation. featuring a 
variety of action and strategy games for 
kids oi all ages. For popular hoard and 
card games, check out The Club- 
house — backgammon, bridge and other 
favorites are available with a nice 
graphical interface. 

The jewel of ImagiNation is 
CasinoLand. the adults only online 
casino. The of-age can play casino 
games or socialize in Lefty's liar with 
bar games or simple chit-chat. Within 
CasinoLand reside restricted and unre- 
stricted areas: the difference being that 
in unrestricted areas, adult subject 
matter and language may be discussed 
freely and openly. 

A speeial form must be signed and 
either faxed or mailed in for access to 
CasinoLand. 

The ImagiNation network costs 
* ( >. ( .)5 pei- month, which includes five 
hours ol the service. Additional hours 
are billed to at S3.50 per hour. For 
sign-up information and software, call 
I-800-IMAGIN-1. B 



Get Ready 
for 

BBS EXPO 




Philadelphia 

Spring, 1996 



26 Nodes 



niteiog BBS 

Fidanet / Internet Email / Usenet 

Rime & ILink Mail 

2900 DOS / DS2 / Windows / Amiga / 
Conferences m]x f j^ / ^^ ffl A 

50,000 
Files ( 408 ) 655-1096 v\32bls 655-42I& 20.dk 





Register 
Online 



SUBURBAN 

PCBoard Ver 15 708-636-6694 

SOFTWARE 

Home of 
King of the Board • Strike 93 • Word Nerd 

BBS 



30 



MARCH 1995 BBS MAGAZINE 



fhey couldn't lop Synchronet 

So we did* 



Introducing 



.JlsPCMSthe 

mmand ana 



'CMS is Ba/'a™, an easy to use 
lasic-like programming language 



ommand shell programming 
without external programs or odd- 
itis. Because compiled command 
.hells are loaded dynamically upon 
" le BBS structures 



:hoose from; including emulations 
)f other BBSs, complex graphical 
jser interfaces, foreign language 



SMB 



.ides a level II 
lentalion of the new SMB 



message storage and retrieval. SMB 
' isible to support future 
ig multimedia! 



nchronet for OS/2, 



OS/2 



fflfwstfiflir 



for DOS. Finally, a powerful and 
feature rich 32-bit BBS will soon be 
within your grasp. 



Free Demo 



...psV.3__ 
714) 529-9547 28.8Kbps V.FC 

Synchronet for DOS v2.0 
2 node $ 99.00 
4 node $199.00 



16 node $399.00 



Digital Dynamics 

PO Box 501 Yorba Linda, CA 92686 
(714) 529-6328 voice 
[714)529-9721 fax 



rcBH^^^HnRHH^HnMHSHMBHfl^HHHflHHHflD 

ictre 8 nodes on a single 486 




****** 

Synchronet 

Node license* S299 

Programmable Yes 

Multiple command shells Yes 

Intelligent DigiBoard Yes 

Intl4h device support Yes 

Standard serial ports Up to 10 

Caller ID security Yes 

Nested security logic Yes 

Multichannel chat Yes 

Private user chat Yes 

Offline reader support Yes 

QWK networking Yes 

FidoNet import/export Yes 

PostLink (RIME) support Yes 

Includes RIPscrip menus Yes 

Novell/DOS LAN support Yes 

Enhanced CD-ROM support Yes 

Incoming FAX support Yes 

Chat between doors Yes 

Bidirectional file transfers Yes 

DOS door support 1 1 types 

FILEJD.DIZ support Yes 

Offline NetMail Yes 

Offline/Remote file requests Yes 

Real-time configuration Yes 



WildcatNM 

5799 
No 
No 
Yes 
No 
No 
No 
No 
Extra 
No 
Yes 
Yes 
Yes 
Extra 
Yes 
Yes 
Yes 
No 
No 
Yes 
2 types 
Extra 
Yes 
No 
No 



PCBoard/M 

$440 
Extra 

No 

Yes 

Yes 

Up to 4 

Extra 

No 

Yes 
Extra 
Extra 
Extra 

Yes 

Yes 

No 

Yes 

Yes 

No 

No 

Yes 
2 types 

Yes 
Extra 

No 

Yes 



MajorSBS 

S508 
Extra 

No 

No 

No 

Up to 2 

Extra 

No 

Yes 

Yes 

Yes 

No 

Yes 
Extra 

Yes 

Yes 

No 

No 

Yes 

No 

No 

Yes 

No 

No 

No 



TBBS 

$895 
Extra 

No 

No 

No 

up to; 

No 
No 
Yes 
Yes 
Extra 
Yes 
Yes 
No 
No 
No 
No 
No 
No 
No 
No 
No 
Yes 
No 
No 



Features and prices compiled Irani vendor supplied information 2/94, are street 10 change vrrthout notification. Wikteal! IM, PCBoard/U. MaiorBBS, TBBS. QWK. FetoNet, 
PostUnk. RIME, RIPscrip. Novell, and DOS are trademarks or their respedve companies. Third party utilities may be required for some message network technologies. 
• to- 8 nodes WiWtatMM requires a 250 node license. PCBoardJM requires a 10 node Scense, TBBS requires a 16 node license. 



If you haven't checked out Synchronet yet. crank up your modem and download a 
demo. There isn't a faster, more feature rich BBS available anywhere from anyone. 
Synchronet combines the robust interactive nature of a multiuser BBS with the 
speed, power and flexibility of a multinode system. 

It was innovative out-of-the-box features such as 
intelligent variable timeslicing, ARS™ security, RIPscrip, 
enhanced CD-ROM, and easy to use fully integrated 
message network support that made Synchronet a 
multinode powerhouse. And now. with version 2.0. 
custom programmability, lightning fast high volume 
messaging, and much more makes Synchronet the 
sysop's choice for BBSing in the 90's. 



I 



BBS 




version 2 

Multinode Bulletin Board System Software 



X E T L A W 

BY S II A R I S T E E I. E 



% 

What do 
"A when you 





crf^pi rock band, 
a civil liberties 
organization and 
a collection of 
electronic 
services? 



A: A new way of having fun, 
collecting money for a great 
cause, and. most important, 
developing bonds between 




people. 



That's e.xaelK what happened righl 
before Christmas, when \erosmith, one 
d1 America's premier rock hands, 
decided to turn its attention to online 
communications. And the I land's timing 
couldn't have hern heller, heeause the 
Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) 
was in ihe process of making organiza- 
tional changes to reflect a return to its 
roots — thai place they call cyber- 
space. 

In I lie middle of November, tile 
management company lor the rock 
band Aerosmilh contacted EFF with a 
unique idea — the band wanted to do a 
"Cyberspace 'lour." I nlike other lorays 
into the online world, however, the 
baud did not acluallv want to perform 
online. While concert broadcasts arc 
certainly worthwhile, band members 
Steven Tvler. Joe Perry. Hrad Wliill'ord. 
Tom Hamilton and Joey Kramer wanted 
to actually connect with their fans, and 



they realized thai only 
a limited number of 
folks currently have 

the capability to 
receive networked 
audio-video. Instead, 
the band wanted to 
"chat" with the online 
masses. 

The band proposed 
a four-night tour, from 
Dee. 4—7. where thev 
would appear on 
CompuServe, Prodigy. 
\mrrica Online and the Internet. The 
proposal lor EFF was rather interesting: 
if EFF could help the band arrange I he 
online events in two-and-a-half weeks, 
the band would donate proceeds of con- 
nect lime and T-shirt sales lo EFF. fur- 
thering freedom of Speech online. 
Aerosmilh has taken a strong stand for 
free speech over the vears. participat- 
ing in several lawsuits that tested the 
limits of intellectual properly owner- 
ship and censorship. 

Coincidental^, when Aeiosinilh's 
niaruigemenl approached EFF. the civil 
liberties group was undergoing some 
internal refocusing of its mission, and 
jumped on the opportunity to work with 
the band mi this event Aside from the 
publicity for online Iree speech the 
band would lie sure to generate, folks at 
FFF saw this event as something 
more — a chance lo sponsor a commu- 
nity even! for several communities in 



32 



MARCH 1995 BBS MAGAZINE 



cyberspace. 

EFF was founded in July of 1990 as 

a result of a disturbance in cyberspace: 
the systematic seizures and raids erf 
several BBSs throughout tile country. 

Over the years, [he organization lias 
dedicated itself to working on cases 
and legislation that made cyberspace a 
better place to lie. Hut recently, mem- 
bers of the board of directors were 
growing less and less comfortable with 
the organization's role as Washington 
deal-maker and were interested in gel- 
ling Siack to a more community-baaed 
focus for the organization. The 
■\erosmith tour was a great chance to 
help foster a few of cyberspace's com- 
munities. 

And the event was a whopping suc- 
cess. On December 1. Aerosniith came 
online for the first lime, appearing on 
CompuServe. Thai service filled its 
"auditorium" to capacity, when hand 
members literally dialed in from back- 
stage at liie Palace of Auburn Hills in 
Detroit, where they physically per- 
formed to a sell-out crowd less than an 
hour later. Subsequent events on the 
following nights on Prodigy and 
America Online also resulted in the 
largest crowds those services had ever 
gathered for a single event. 

Bui the most interesting event was 
the band's appearance on the Internet 

The band had no idea of the best 
"place" to appear on the world's largest 
computer network and had assumed 
that a channel on IRC Internet Relay 
Chat, would lie the location of the final 
event. However, folks at F.FF weren't so 
sure that was the bcsl place for this 
tvpe of event. IHC is great fun. but the 
non-hierarchical nature of tile medium 
surely would drown out band members 
attempting to answer questions. No, 
IRC probably wasn't best tor this type 
of chat. 

Folks at EFF decided to turn, 
instead, to the MOOs. .MOOs are inter- 
active online services, usually game 
areas, where fantasy worlds are created 
and traversed through textual com- 
mands and descriptions. Win not cre- 
ate a MOO concert hail where the band 
con hi appear onstage? A message was 
posted on one of the MOO organizer 
lists on the Internet asking if any 
MOOs were interested in sponsoring 
such an event. Several MOOs respond- 



ed, and within days MOO organizers 
from several of the largest MOOs were 
working together on programming code 
that could link them all together. The 
final Aerosniith "gig" was going to be 
the largest online gathering ever. 

This might not seem like such a big 
thing for the uninitiated, but the linking 
of the MOOs was actually an historic 
event in the life of the Net. Owe the 
software was created for an online gath- 
ering of this sort, it was available for 
other such online gatherings. Willi 
those lines of code came a new way ol 
linking the world together. 

All' in all. 14 MOOs from all over 
the world participated in the Aerosniith 
event, and several thousand people 
were online to participate. An IRC 
channel broadcast the discussion. 
There were problems and bugs, but 
lliings were sorted out as the chat pro- 
gressed, and everything worked 
smoothly by the end. EFF is committed 
to holding other events of this kind, 
encouraging more and more folks to 
find their way online. 

In the meantime, sonic big changes 
have happened at EFF. Andrew 
Taubman has been 



Policy Director Jerry Herman, have left 
EFF and have created a new organiza- 
tion called the Center for Democracy 
and Technology (CUT). 

In 1995. EFF will continue to pur- 
sue its policy mission ol protecting the 
health and growth of the global comput- 
er networks. The 1995 policy agenda 
includes such projects as an innovative 
new "State of the Net" report: studies of 
the implications of the global nature ol 
the Net for jurisdictional governance 
questions: a study of the protection ol 
intellectual property on networks: and. 
efforts to preserve the free flow ol Infor- 
mation across the Global Information 
Infrastructure (Oil). EFF expect- to 
continue to intervene actively to 
counter threats to computer-mediated 
communications networks, and virtual 
communities, such as limitations on the 
use of cryptography and intrusions into 
personal privacy, as it has in previous 

Skari Steele is Director of Legal Sen-ices 
of the Electronic Frontier Foundation 
I EFF). Sent! legal questions to 
nsteele@eff.org. or c/o BBS Magazine. 



named EFF 
Executive Director 
and Chief 
Operating Officer. 
David Johnson has 
been named Chair 
of the EFF Board 
of I hreclors and 
Senior Policy 
Fellow of EFF. 
Esther Dyson has 
been named \ ice 
Chair of the 
Board. 

EFF co- 
founders Mitchell 
Kapor and John 
PeiTJ Barlow 
remain Directors 
and will continue 
to participate 
actively in the 
development and 
implementation of 
EFF policy pro- 
grams. Five mem- 
bers of EFF's 
\\ ashington policy 
staff, including 



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33 



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BBS NOTEBOOK 



BY BOB BROWNE 



EveryBaudy's BBS 

Manchester, New Hampshire 

Home Again BBS 

Chicago, Illinois 

Hotel California BBS 

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 

The State Patrol 

Appleton, Wisconsin 




36 MARCH 1995 BBS MAGAZINE 













EveryBaudy's BBS 



SYSOI'fS): Jon Gross and E3 Lennon 

LOCATION: Manchester. NH 

BBS MAIN ACCESS #: 603.668.2983 or (voice info) 603.645.0 1 1 

MODEM TYPE(S): All ZOOM 28.8V.M: Externa! 

BBS SOFTWARE: The Major BBS networked w/Renegade 

BBS MOTTO OR THEME: Glial. Files, Contests, Internet and 

More! 

Every Bandy's RBS originaled as Jon's Bus Stop in June of 
1993 as a single-line Renegade BBS. Soon afterwards, multi- 
ple CD-ROM drives Were added along with the Nightowl 
series shareware CD ROMs, and when the sysop ran for local 
office in November '93, a local message area was set up to dis- 
cuss politics. 

The board has grown in popularity, mainly due In its file 
collection (oyer eight gigabytes now) and the contests they 



Continues 




MARCH 1995 BBS MAGAZINE 



37 



The added ability of a local BBS 
to offer access to the Internet 
and live chat makes it feasible to 
achieve a market-share against 
the 'big' national services. 



run. They were running Richard 
Paquette's FACTS Door this month, For 
instance, arid od'cii utr prizes In the win- 
ners — some oi which have included 
movie tickets and restaurant gift certifi- 
cates. 

I lie extremely helpful sysop. Jon 
Gross, also founded Rebelnel in L993, 
with four other local hoards. Node 
quickly went online, and shortly after 
thai Jon added Internet UUCP and 
Usenet email sen ires for his users. The 
hoard was still completely free, with 
increased access gi\en for $10 and S2."> 
annual contributions. 

"We were averaging about 70 calls a 
day. with70 percent busy time, so we 
needed to expand," Jon said. 

So The Major 15 US was added as a 
neiv platform and Every Baudy's BBS 



was bom. The upgrade included seven 
lines— all at 28,800 baud (with a 

license for I I lines and hardware ready 
for 10). Many games and additional 
modules were purchased, Jon said. 
Currently I CD-ROMs arc online and 
live Internet will be available this 
month. 

\\ orldlink Live Chat is on nightly 
and most of the time during the week- 
ends. In its first week of operation, the 
new board averaged over 120 calls a 
day. 

"I uani to provide an inexpensive 
alternative to the Big Three — AOL. 
Prodigy and CompuServe — when' peo- 
ple can have live chat, interactive 
games, live Internet and Ions of files Iot- 
as little as 50 rents an hour, and not 
have to drag along at 2400 or 9600 or 
even I I. IK."" Jon said when asked win- 
he runs a BBS. 

"I love creating a social world where 
we can have bin. organizing contests 
within our own electronic universe, 
with the feeling of home to our users."" 

The equipment on Jon's board 
includes two computers (the main one 

is a 486766 with 16MB of BAM |, i e- 

gigabvle IDE hard drive. SCSJ con- 




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troller with seven CD-ROMs, and a 16- 

I'orl BocaBoard (with 10 |f).V>0 

I Mi'l'S). Ml modems arc ZOOM V.FC 

28.8K. 

The second computer is a 486/33 
K1SA with 8MB of RAM and a 5 k)MB 
SCSI-2 (fast SCSI) hard drive, a DTC 
3290 SCSI controller (with 2MB of 
cache installed tin the controller), and 
three SCSI CD-HOM s . A third system 
is poised ami ready to go on line as an 
Internet Server. 

I'lie mail networks carried at 
EveryBaudy's BBS are ITC. SING, 
Rebelnel. Usenet (Internet I UCP), and 
Worldlink. 

Playing Door games seems to be a 
growing American pastime. Of the 
many great Doors Jon has online, the 
most popular are SLOTS. TEOS, 
LORD. SCRAMBLE, and FACTS. 

Jon's board is family-oriented, with 
unaduli file areas. However some adull 
"talk areas are online. 

In the future. Jon said he plans to 
"develop Internet further and add X.25 
lines so people all over the country can 
reach us w ith a local call." 

"I think the opportunity for a well- 
run BBS to prosper by catering k> 
regional users is great. The added abili- 
ty of a local BBS tti offer access to the 
Internet and live dial makes il feasible 
to achieve a market-share against the 
'big" national services," he said. "In 
addition, the ability to move more 
quickly onto cutting edge advances, 
like providing 28,800 band connect 
lines, can keep the local BBS ahead of 
lire national systems. Local shopping 
sen-ices and a local feel add to the nice 
atmosphere of local boards." 



Hotel California BBS 

SVSOP: Llu\ ilLawson 

LOCATION: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 

BBS MAIN ACCESS #: 405.728.7 1 21^ 

MODEM TYPE: USRiibutics Sportster 

28.800 V.34 

BBS SOFTWARE: Wildcat! 4.1 Single 

Lille 

BBS MOTTO OR THEME 1 regular cornu- 
copia ofmodemingjun and excitement! 

After previously running a BBS for over 
a year. I.lovd Lawson knew about ihe 
hours required to run a BBS. not to 



38 



MARCH 1995 BBS MAGAZINE 



mention the expense of it all. So with 
experience as his guide and an old 386 
computer. Lloyd I. awson jumped hack 
into the BBS world hy putting ihe Hotel 
California BBS online. 

This was in May of '94. Today Lloyd 
says he has already taken 2.500 calls. 

I asked Lloyd why lie runs a BBS. to 
which he replied "I have a serious Cod 
complex. This is my only outlet for 
such a problem. But seriously, it has to 
he the thrill of knowing thai someone is 
interested enough to lake time out of 
their day to call my hoard to see what 1 
have to offer, then seeing the same peo- 
ple call hack day after day." 

The one-gigabyte hard drive is 
packed with plenty of current share- 
ware and there are two CD-BOM drives 
with Pier 4 and Software Vault Ruby 
which gives you a little over 8.000 files 
to browse through. 

As for software, "After trying several 
BBS programs, I kept coming back to 
Wildcat! for its ease of use. simple set- 
up and unmatched customer support," 
he said. 

Customer support, indeed. Lloyd 
told me I hut Paul Davis, the main 
Wildcat! programmer, personally 
helped him out with a hug fix and Hick 
Heming. vice-president of Mustang 
Software, railed him at home to he sure 
he was happy and that everything was 
working properly. 

The board is run on a lull tower 186 
DX2-66 with 8MB of RAM, a one-giga- 
byte hard drive, two CD-ROM drives, a 
LSR 28.8 V.34 modem, and a Jumho 
Trakker tape drive for backups. 

"I run my BBS under Windows for 
Workgroups," Lloyd said, assuring that 
it works ijuite well — perfect for his 
needs. Running the BBS this way 
allows him to operate other programs 



After trying several BBS 

programs, I kept coming back to 

Wildcat! for its ease of use, 

simple set-up and unmatched 

customer support 



while leaving his BBS online. 

The Hotel California BBS currently 
carries the SELKNLT message echo. 
SEEKNET is a QWK-hased message 
network which carries over 50 topic 
areas. 

Llovd savs all of his Doors are quite 
popular. Some of the favorites are 
Dollarmania, a slot machine game, 
Lasso!, the classic hangman game, 
word Scramble, Saratoga Race Track, 
King of the Board, and Online Trivia. 
They also offer the Online Bible and 
the CDSub BBS Magazine doors. 

The board is also the new home of 
the SOONER BBS list which offers 
callers and r-ysops an up-to-date list of 
BBSs in the -105 area code — two-thirds 
of Oklahoma. 

Hotel California caters to a wide 
range of callers from age 13 and up. All 
ages arc welcome, arid. Llov d sa\ -, 
"There are no adult areas, so parents 
do not have to worry about what their 
children are seeing on my hoard." 

As for the future. Lloyd said "I will 
definitely add one more CD-ROM 
drive, bringing the total to three. I 
would also like to offer Internet mail 
and newsgroups. As technology 
expands, so will Hotel California BBS." 

Lloyil says nothing irritates him 
more than seeing on TV and reading in 
magazines what he calls "BBS slam- 



"Best BBS on the planet " ^^^ ( 

Channel L 

Over 3,500,000 calls! AbmJ 



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trung. 

"It is obvious that some of these 
people are narrow-minded in thinking 
that BBSers are all perverts with noth- 
ing better to do with their lime than to 
look at dirty pictures on their comput- 
ers," he said. "This is definitely not the 
truth. Cranted, there are many BBSs 
that offer adult material, but the majori- 
ty of the BBSs in my area don't. 1 feel 
that more positive advertising by the 
sysops and strong support from user 
groups could bring about a better pub- 
lic opinion of URSs now and in the 
future." 



Home Again BBS 




; 

SYS0P: William Johns., n 
LOCATION: Chicago, Illinois 
BBS MAIN ACCESS #■- 312.665.73 1 9 
MOBEMTYPE: US Robotics Sportster 
28.8k internal ™ 
BBS SOFTWARE: PtKoard vl5.2 
BBS MOTTO OH THEME: Free noncom- 
mercial access lo Interne! email and 
Usenet newsgroups. 

William Johnson put his BBS online in 
September of 1993 with GT Power 
BBS. And after a mail feed was estab- 
lished with a BBS in a nearby town, the 
! lome Again BBS started taking calls, 
William told me he quickly became 
interested in the Internet and set up 
Waffle lo send and receive Internet 
email and Usenet newsgroups using 
Russell Kroll's (Computeeh BBS) 
WAFT0GT utility to gate mail between 
Waffle and GT. But WAET0GT was 
only capable of gating a maximum ol 50 
Usenet newsgroups, forcing William lo 



Continues 






^ 



Home of the 

Online Mac 

Users' Group 



Macintosh Online 

404-988-9904 

• PD/Shareware 

• Software Giveaways 

• 300-14400 Baud " 

• Demos 

• Tech Info 

• More!!! 



A 

Mac 

GUI 

BBS! 



Over 130 different conferences!!! 
Large free Classifieds section. 



MARCH 1995 BBS MAGAZINE 



39 



Home Again is provided for the 
enjoyment of its callers. If you 
are concerned about not getting 
ripped off, not being taken 
advantage of, then Home Again is 
the place to call. 



seek other available software packages 
that could possibly meet his needs. 

"When PCBoard vl5.2 became 
available with UUCP built-in. I was 
able lo recover over 100MB of hard 
drive space by removing the Waffle 
system, WAFTOGT, and GT." he said. 
"'My Waffle scripts and system files 
were practically drop-ins for PCBoard 
UUCP!" 

The board now averages anywhere 
between 24 and 32 calls per day on a 
single node, and has already logged 
over 1.000 calls since changing lo 
PCBoard last November. 

Now. according to William, "it's 
time for node two to go online." 

"'I find it amazing lo be able to 
exchange Internet email with BBS users 
in Sweden and Italy, and sometimes 
getting a response tile same day I 
entered the message. I use the BBS 
more than the callers do." William said, 

"If a caller can log onto the system 
and find what they are looking for. then 
great!" he continued. "A new caller left 
a message to me saying he needed a 
utility to convert graphic images in 
order to complete a task at his work. He 
was surprised lo be able to download 
what he needed during his first call." 

When you log on to Home Again yon 
trulv do feel right at home — especially 
if you're looking lor files. William main- 
tains a terrific file selection between the 
files on drives and the assortment of 
available CD-ROMs. Some of the CDs 
online when I called were the NightowTs 
10. 11. 12. 13. and the Pier 5 CD. 

You'll also find a great selection of 
Door games here, including Legend of 
the Red Dragon. The PIT. VGA 
Planets, ChessMagie. and SuperSlots. 
The US BBS List Door was also avail- 
able to users. 

William runs his BBS on an AST 



mini-lower i 486DX/33 with 8MB of 
RAM, a USR Sportster 28.8k internal 
FAX V.34 w/V.FC and a Pioneer 
DRM-604X CD-ROM changer. 
Johnson runs, and endorses highly, PC 
Board software for its long list of built- 
in features. To him, the built-in UUCP 
support and the built-in f'ido support 
were very important and necessary. 

"Home Again (as the name implies) 
is provided for [lie enjoyment of its 
callers. If you are concerned about not 
getling ripped off, not being taken 
advantage of, then Home Again is the 
place to call." he said. "You will find 
no pornography, copyrighted material, 
hacked or otherwise illegally obtained 
material. If you are looking for that, 
then I would prefer that you would call 
elsewhere." 

William said he recently acquired a 
ZEOS Pantera 90 MHz Pentium with 
21MB ol'R \M that will be used as the 
file-server for a new LAN-based system 
that I he BBS will operate on. 

In the future. William says. 
"Additional lines will be installed, and 
callers will be able to participate in 
mulli-line Door games and online chat. 




The Slate Patrol 

SYS0P: Micky Pagel 

LOCATION: Appleton, WI 

UBS M \l\ ACCESS ft 414.830. 1885 

MODEM TYPE: Zoom 28.800 

BBS SOFTWARE: Renegade 

BBS MOTTO OR THEME: Do Your Best! 

There's a very popular BBS out in 
Appleton. Wisconsin, that went online 
in September of "94 called the State 
Patrol. Its svsop is 14-year-old Micky 

Pagel (known as Stale Trooper to board 
members). 

Micky said she runs a BBS becau>e 
she likes giving oilier people the enjoy- 
ment of having a local BBS that they 
can call their home board. 

She also enjoys the interactivity she 
has with the callers. 

Micky's modestly sized BBS gives a 
user plenty of things to do while online, 
and if vou like downloading and check- 
ing out new files, then you can browse 
through the CD-ROMs that are online, 
in addition lo the new uploads thai are 



kept on the hard drive. Some of the 
CDs we saw were Games lo Treasure 1 
and 2. and the Pier 5 Shareware CI). 

The Door games online at the Stale 
Patrol are very popular with callers, 
arid each is heavily played. The most 
popular include the Legend of the Red 
Dragon and Barren realms Elite, fol- 
lowed by Motor City Drag Strip and the 
ever-popular Tractor Pull. 

A built-in feature with the Renegade 
software Micky tuns is the voting boolh 
she uses lo ask her callers what they 
waul lo sec on the board. Mickv then 
tries to tailor the board lo be what the 
users want. She asks them what Doors 
they want lo play, what lypes of files 
they want posled and what kinds of 
message bases lliey want to post mes- 
sages in. 

Micky chose the Renegade software 
package because she says it was very 
easy to set up and is extremely flexible, 
giving her the ability to make it look 
and feel the way she and her users 
want. Il is also a very popular package 
among sysops in area — so there's plen- 
ty of support. 

The Stale Patrol is run on an Acer 
Acros 486/SX-25 computer with a 
318MB hard drive wilh 4MB of RAM, 
an SVGA monitor, a CD-ROM drive, 
and a Zoom 28. 8k modem. 

The E-Mail Networks carried at the 
Slate Patrol are also very popular in (he 
area. She carries RTS Net. RGS Net. 
ITC Net and another message network 
started by Micky and a friend called 
Dragon Net. which is quickly becoming 
very popular. 

Future plans for the State Patrol 
include selling up another nude, adding 
more CD-ROM drives and having more 
shareware CDs online, and maybe 
bringing in a few more message nets 
like Fido.ncl and getling linked to the 
Internet. 

Micky told me she feels a sysop 
should be nice, as well as flexible. 

"Most of all, be careful of who vou 
lock out on your system," she said. 
"Gel caller-ID if it's available in your 
area." Sounds like good advice lo me. 

We found the Stale Patrol lo be a 
very friendly, easv-going BBS to visit. 
And although the user base seemed to 
be made up of a younger crowd, the 
BBS was si'l up to give users of all ages 
plenty oi things In do online. BBU 



40 



MARCH 1995 BBS MAGAZINE 




Magazine 

BBS Magazine is nol only your ticket lo llie evolving information highway, 
it's also your road map. wC?-^ * With features on the latest in bulletin hoard 
software, interviews with top industry insiders and news and 
reviews of everything making its way into cyberspace, BBS 
Magazine has heroine required offline reading for anyone 
getting online. ^Stefc-, Eaeh month we look at the best and 
brightest BBSs, as well as those just getting started, and review 
the most informative books on BBSing and online services. 
Every issue features our expert columnists commenting on all 
aspects of life online. From the best deals on modems to our look 
into the Internet — it's all there. BBS Magazine is written for you, 

the BBS caller. The stories are exciting, informative and olten 

. ■>" 
entertaining. J%^#> We won't waste your time, hill we will get you 



■ted. 




Subscriptions: □ 1 year US — $30. Canada — $50. □ 2 years US — $50. Canada — $90. 



Name 



Address 



City. 



State 



Zip Code 



flume (home) 



. (bus.) 



Payment Type □ Check/Money Order □ Visa □ MasterCard 



CC# 



BBS Name (if any). 



Exp. Date Signature 

BBS # 



\U 



701 Stokes Road • Medford. NJ 08055 • Call the Subscription Hotline: L800.822.Q437 -y&. Fax: 609.953.7961 



T E R 111 E T MADE EASY 



BY MIKE ROBINSON 



The Best of the Web 

And the winners are... 



Travels with Samantha Cover Page 



File Edit View Go Bookmarks Options Directory 






IM 



Help 



Location 



httpJAvwv^svnss.ai-mitedu/samantham-avels-with-sariiaritha.html 




[Chapter 1 [Table of Contents | Credits and Copyright! Reviews [ Othgr Voices | FAQ] 



1 




ime and again I'm 
sked the same question by 

ders and colleagues. 
Where are the best Web 

sites? 



The answer to that question depends on 
die interests of the one doing the ask- 
ing. And since I don't know the person- 
al likes and dislikes of everyone asking 
the question. I point them lo llie Rest of 
the Web Awards. 

Winners of die Best of the Web '94, 
or BOW awards, are undoubtedly some 
of the finest sites around. However, by 
the time you read this who knows wiial 
else might have emerged, for now. the 
Best ean fie found at litl|i://wings.biilfa- 



lo.edu/contest. 

These awards are given in 13 differ- 
ent categories and are selected by a 
majority vote of over 5.000 respon- 
dents. The contest was run bv Brandon 
I'lewe, assistance coordinator ol the 
Campus-Wide information System at 
SU NY-Buffalo. And plans are already 
iii the works for a BOW '95. 

Following is a list of the winners in 
each category. Go to the BOW '94 page 
lo get the actual UHL for each page. 



42 



MARCH 1995 BBS MAGAZINE 



BEST OVERALL SITE 

National (denier for Supercomptllin<! 
Archive 

WWW IIALL-OK-KAME 

Tim Berners-Lee (CERN) 

CAMPUS-WIDE INFORMATION SYSTEM 

Clohcwidc Network Academy 

COMMERCIAL 

O'Reilly <!\ Associates 

ENTERTAINMENT 

Sports Information Service (MIT) 

EDUCATIONAL 

Introduction to Object Oriented 

Programming Using C++ 



PROFESSIONAL 

Oncol.itlk (L niversih nj 



Pennsylvania) 



NAVIGATION \11>K 
World-Wide-Web-Worm (U. Colorado) 

SERVICE CONCEIT 

What's New on (lie WWW (NCSA) 

DOCUMENT DESIGN 

Travels with Samantha (MIT) 

INTERACTION 

Map Server (Xerox PARC) 

MULTIPLE MEDIA 
LeLouvre (Telecom Paris) 

TECHNICAL MERIT 

Map Server (Xerox PARC) 

We're not in Kansas anymore 

Playing around vvilh the Map Server 
(BOW's pick for technical merit) locat- 



ed at Xerox PARC (http^/pub- 
web.parc.xerox.com/map), left me truly 
impressed. 

This was my experience: Once at the 
server, a map of the world appeared. I 
asked for USA-specific Locations to get 
more detail, and then requested a color 
map. Ne\l came the hard part — where 
to go? First 1 found the geographic loca- 
tion lor my search. I chose a small town 
in the woods of Wisconsin called 
Merrimae (you know, the one with a 
cable channel displaying pictures of 
cows in a field). I'd been there once and 
can report that it"s as small as it sounds. 

Merrimae (pop. 365) is located at 
latitude 13.22.2 4 north, longitude 
89.37.24 west, according to the 
Geographic Name Server. 

The next step was to enter the loca- 
tion into the Map Server. 'Plus was done 
by entering the string '71al= 43.22/lon= 
-!").: 37" into the entry hox al the bottom 
of the screen. One hint at this point: 
Make sure you have your inline image 
display turned on — mine was oil (or a 
frustrating few minutes on my first trip 
here, allowing me no maps. Tinning the 
inline image display on. 1 saw 
Merrimae. \\ 1. right in the center ol the 
screen. I could also see Lake 
Wisconsin and the major highways 
nearby. Finally. 1 located Philadelphia. 
PA — iiiv home — only to find there was 
simply too much detail, and had to turn 
off die major highways selection. One 
final note: there is no labeling of towns, 
roads, rivers, etc., so von likely won I 
be able to use these maps for travel. 



FTP by email 



Xerox PARC Map Vicwei: world U.OIIN D.OGE |I.OX] 



The number of people with simple 
email access probably far outnumbers, 
that of people with FTP. This has 
undoubtedly made for a lot of frustrated 
would-be downloaded. 

Hale to break it to you emailcis. bill 
for some time there's been a solution lo 
this dilemma. Il goes like this: Send a 
message to mail-server@rlfm.mit.edu 
without a subject. In the body of your 
letter, put the following line: 

send usenet/news.answers/ftp-list/faq 

This will send you some help on how- 
to use the service, where lo get more 
information, etc. I'm assuming here you 
already know where you want to FTP. II 
not. there's information on how lo get 
listings using the above information. 

The next step is to send mail to a 
local FTP-by-mail server such as 
Princeton University's in New Jersey 
(bilftp@pucc.princelon.edu). 

Again, don't include a subject — all 
of your instructions will be contained in 
the body of the message. For example, 
to download the current release of 

Trumpet Winsoek (2.0b). include 
the following text as the body: 

opciioak.oaklaud.edu 

cfl /p ub/win 3/ winsoek 

bin 

gel twsk20b.zip 

quil 

You can also include commands 
like "dir" to retrieve directory listings. 
FTP-by-mail is not the easiest way lo 
retrieve files, but lor those u ilhoul 
FTP. it's as good as it gets 




m om aix zo™ ox osa utti ww. aim 

' Vi™C.l.«tAi»Uirra1diM. 



Sdert apenri on ae trap to loam oi (by 2), or ,cltei an option Mow- Flewml ^frwj At Ml lltrtr. Eitl «l 
j &rtwU-TofcKtatf-3lo«ion bv Iwpm. i*<il» fl«otrfl*MSan ?e Server 

Options: 

• Zoom In: iJJ, (HUB), i."J.&oi»0ll: flttl <1«1, tlftlH WO) 

• FeaftEM: I><f.ui!t. : -l^fjku. iDUO 
■ 

• DUplay: BWBKaTWDK ProjKii^: 

• CaaasCMalaitulJSAaolVunmkalU 



There arc a few more things to 
keep in mind: first, don't expect 
your file back immediately — it 
may take several days, depending 
on how husy the. mail server and 
FIT site are. Second, large files 
will probably be split into several 
smaller pieces which you will 
need lo combine to get the origi- 
nal file. Third, binary Piles will be 
uuencoded, so you will have to 
Ulldecode the message alter you 
download il from the IrSHS. 

If you (1(111*1 have a copy of 
uudecode. try the following script: 

open oak. oak la ml. edu 

cd /puh/iusdos/slarler 

bin 

get uudeeode.com 

gel uuencode.com 

qui! 



h: 



America Online 



HI 



cMi-u?Hiii m i i: ui iidai. i nmm 



^:?t 



IMdiRi Port ^ cou , q co|J z q CQM 3 q C(JM 4 




Sb»hh 4i>: :; 

SpHtKlFM-M* MO; 

Stww*ra (H»T*1 Come rtb**) ft! Cj 

Sufr-* H*VJ2mMC| 



mtKIHllllWHJlim 
TtJ»biiT16Q0pfi.rj) 
TelBb.1TT5mif¥lOJ 
Twmcom t**DfTr3TJ) 



Ed'l DunmHjt 



EMRentH C*dct 



EAMvwii 



3_ 



Help t Into 



Ti l OK l| C.wtl | 



Hot tip 



Are you a frequent user of America 
Online or any other service offering 
TCP/IP as will as modem access? Do 
you also have a SLIP or PPP account? 



If so. dial your SLIP/PPP account and 
then connect to the service through 
your client using TCP/IP services 
(Winsock). This will give you 19. 2k. 
28. 8k, or even higher access speeds. 

For example. 1 dial into my office 
(which is live to the Net) at speeds up to 
38.4K. get a PPP account and then use 
that to connect to A01. at much faster 
than my local 96(K) Sprint connection. 
And I can use Mosaic, as well as log in to 
check my mail — all al the same lime. 

I wouldn't recommend this if you 
use an Internet provider, however. 



since the additional online 
charges will probably accumu- 
late and cost you big bucks. 
Bui a lot of you have free 
SLIP/PPP accounts — some- 
times without even knowing 
(students) — so here's another 
way to lake advantage of lliem. 

Nexicon 

DNS — Domain Name System. 
This is probably the most useful 
sen ice on the Internet, although 
most users don't even knows it's 
there. DNS is an online data- 
base \_\m-i\ to translate human-readable 
names into their numerical IP address- 
es. IP messages arc addresses using a 
dolled-quad notation (i.e., 165.123.8.41) 
which is nol easy for us to remember. So 
DNS takes a machine name 
llniance.wIiarlon.iqjenn.edu) and auto- 
matically translates ii into the appropri- 
ate IP address, ma 

Mike Robinson 
mrobinsn@wharton.upenn.edu 

(or dii liir Web at hltp://f>iuiiicr.nh(ii- 
ton.upenn.edu/~mrobiisn.) 



UNCLE HANK'S SHAREWARE 
REVIEW NEWSLETTER 

Published bi-monthly, this newsletter takes a good look 
at some of the best Shareware available today. Each issue 
contains reviews from a wide variety of areas. Always in 
plain English. 

For a sample issue, send S2 to: Uncle Hank's 
Shareware, 8 Hendrick St., Easthampton, MA 01027 

Send $10 with this ail, yuu can subscribe for 1 yr. (6 issues) & scats $2. 
Make checks payable lo Hank Hurteau 



PEXT 

SEnERiiTinn 

BBS 

PCBoard. Home of Trek Trivia Online. Lots of 

Files, Message Networks, FidoNet 1:266/19 

After Dark Adult Network. 

Visa/MasterCard accepted online. 609.482.7345 



FREE Internet $ Usenet Mail 

It's SO Big! 



;- 



Adult Access 

Hoi Adult Clubs! 
Match Making! 
HOT NEW GIFS!! 
Adult Chailing Live! 
Adult Games / Party! 
ALL LIFESTYLES 
LADIES FREE ACC- 




Toll Free #'s 

Local Access #s 
300 # access too 
Satellite News Feeds 
Magic The Gathering 
Games & Contests 
Sports Club Online 
Business ' HAM too 



♦ m mm ♦ 

COS-BBS VOTED 13TH IN THE NATION. ONE BBSCON 

FREE DEMO ACCESS! 



C : ":x 



512 8870787 



(■ 



44 



MARCH 1995 BBS MAGAZINE 



MediaHouse 



Software Inc. 




■■.-:■.:■: ?■■• :■"- 



EU MODEMS 1\7 I9K Oof2*f?A GBnerdhfbrmatton about Modem Corrfigi 
lot rriaiy popular brands Includes an in cd ri 
dilC^SSion gn new 20 & moHems. and mt( 
10 (levees Worth Rfading' 



H 



CO-ROM System Tree 

Lib pa f^ s 



Moil Folders 



John Smith: I knowl I'm sending and receiving files at "He 
same time while we chat, ive never seen another system 
where this is possible That's why our company is using 
MediaHost and MediaBase ■) 

Ann Fowler: What does your company use MediaHost lor ? I 
rtork for an adverusina aoertcv. We are tftrttanq of setting up 



Connectivity Solutions 



Dial-up and Network 



Email & BBS Functions 



Photo Databasing 



MediaHost 

Online Server for Windows™ 

• E-mail with private mail boxes 
and public conferences. 

• CD-ROM support. 

• Private and group chat. 

• Online image previews and 

• photographs. 

• Multitasking allows most 
system functions to take place 
in the background. 

• Receive and send files 
concurrently. 

• Line noise correction. 

• Free Client software. 

• Includes visual design tools. 

• Configurable security. 

• Configurable menu structure. 




MediaBase 

Database Option tor MediaHost 

• Reads & writes dBASE'f FoxPro 
and Paradox' files directly. 

• Can display JPEG, CMP, TIFF 
and GIF™ images. 

• Allows multiple image and 
document files per entry. 

• Allows security based entry and 
editing of records. 

• Background searhes allow the 
viewing of data as it is found. 

• Intuitive spread sheet view. 

• Supports multiple databases. 

• Configurable spread sheets, 
templates and queries. 

• Configurable multi-key searches. 

• Integrates with MediaHost 
ordering interface. 

MediaHouse Software Inc. 

32 Eardley Rd, Aylmer, Quebec, J9H 7A3 

Sales & Info 819-682-9737 
Demo System 81 9-682-3330 
Fax 819-685-0994 

MediaHost and MediaBase are trademarks ol MediaHouse Software Inc. All other trademarks are the properly of their respective owners. © 1994 MediaHouse Software Inc. 



£ 





mflcmTosH ooyof 



Retrieve 'em, 
post em, 
unarchive em 
without 
a hitch. 




■/■''+, 



■ 





Mac Files 
on PC Boards 




,. ^ ' 









':^3**£ 



hen I receive email on 
subject en masse, I 
lh;il many others out 
nTc arc silently wondering 
the same thing. How to cfeal 
with Mac files on a PC board 
,one of those 

quandries. 






995 BBS MACAZINE 




I get a lot of mail from PC sysops wauling Id know the best way 
lo provide Mac files for Macintosh callers. Because the problem 
often lies in making the files readable, my suggestion is to sim- 
ply convert them to a MacBinary formal file before transferring. 

Although there is a public domain program that converts to 
and from MacBinary (which is called, coincidentally, 
Mat-Binary), most telecommunication programs provide 
MacBinary conversion. 

ZTcnn, for example, can be configured to detect a 
MacBinarv file when it is received and automatically convert 
the file to its original representation. 

I discussed [his with Henry, a friend of mine who runs Lone 
Star Mac Online, a first Class BBS. 

Henry explained that you really don't have to worry about 
pre-converling files with a utility like MacBinary before 
uploading a file to a IT, board. As long as the file is uploaded 
as MacBinary. it can be downloaded as a Mac file (the 
MacBinarv header info remains with the file). It's lhi.it simple. 
Otherwise, if it's uploaded as a simple binary file, it may not 
be usable when downloaded unless you run a utility like 
MacBinary lo intrepid die header info on the file (determining 
where the data and resource forks begin and end). Bill even 
then. I've encountered files that I couldn't restore. 

PC downloads 

I've also had manv newer Mac users ask me how to open files 
they've pulled from a PC-based BBS — files that were com- 
pressed or archived in some manner. This calls for a primer on 
file formats, and what utilities translate them. 

Y^ hen vuu log onto a IT, board, many ol the files can be 
easily dealt with, such as lexl files, GIFs. TIFFs. EPS images, 
even TrueType fouls. However, you will encounter many files 
that have been compressed by a PC archiving utility. Below 
are some of the more common archives you'll find, with the 
suffix of the file, a description, and a Mac utility you can use 
lo unarchive the files. 



File suffix 


Type of archive/file 


Mac utility(s) to use 


.arc 


MS-DOS PC archive 


ArcPop, MacArc 


arj 


MS-DOS PC archive 


unArjMac 


.Izh 


Amiga or old MS-DOS 
PC archive 


LHarc, MacLHa 



.zip 



MS-DOS PC archive 



UnZip, ZipPop, Ziplt 



Occasionally you'll also come across files bom a UNIX sys- 
tem. Below are some of the files you'll encounter and utilities 
to use with them. 



File suffix 


Type of archive/file 


Mac utility (s) to Use 


.shar 


UNIX shell archive 


Unshar 1.5 


.uu 


UNIX uuencoded files 


UUIite 


1 


UNIX 'compress' archive 


MacCompress 3.2 


.tar 


UNIX tape backup archive 


SunTar 



These are the ones mosl prevalent on Mac boards, online ser- 
vices and the Internet, but the) are not the only utilities ihal 
translate these file types. Sluffil Deluxe ,'i.O. for example, 
includes translators for .lar. .uu. MacBinary. DiskDoubler, and 

MARCH 1995 



UNIX compress. These translators (tan also be used with 
Sluffil Lite. In addition, .arc and .zip translators are distrib- 
uted with Stufflt Deluxe. 

Mac archives 

As for Macintosh compressed archive files, there are several 
different popular utilities and file formats used online. Some of 
these include: 



File suffix 


Type of archive/file 


Mac Utility(s) to Use 


.bin 


MacBinary files 


MacBinary, BinHex, Stufflt 
Deluxe 3.0, SunTar 


xpt 


Compact Pro archive 


Compact Pro, 
Stufflt Deluxe 3.0 


.sit 


Stufflt archive 


Stufllt Deluxe 3.0, Stufflt Lite, 
Compact Pro, Disk Doubier 


.dd 


DiskDoubler archive 


DiskDoubler, DD Expand, 
Stufflt Deluxe 3.0 


.hqx 


BinHex files 


BinHex, Compact Pro, Stufflt 
Deluxe 3.0, SunTar 


.image 


Apple DiskCopy 
disk image file 


Apple DiskCopy, DiskDup+ 


.pit 


Packlt files 


Packlt, Stufflt Deluxe 3.0, 
SunTar, DiskDoubler 


.sea 


Self-extracting 
archive files 


double-click to decompress 



Another utility, Stufflt Expander 3.0.7, can decode BinHex, 
Sluffil. Compact Pro. and Applelink archives. What's really nice 
about Expander is that it supports drag-and-drop under System 
7. Stufflt Expander is distributed free by Aladdin Systems Inc. 



Notes on utilities 



• Packlt files were the standard before Stuffll burst on the 
scene. If it's a Packlt file, odds are, it's very old. 

• In order to expand DiskDoubler archives. Stuffll uses inter- 
application communication and requires DiskDoubler to be 
installed, which might seem to defeat the purpose. 

• DiskDup+ can mount .image files on your desktop, so you 
can run installers without having to create install disks first. I 
believe you're only limited by available RAM. 

Over the past few years, utility authors have included more 
cross-plalform conversion tools, making life easier for many of 
us — because, unfortunately, not all BBSers are enlightened 
enough lo have a Mac (grin). And it's likely that more sophisti- 
caletl lools will soon become available. 1 II be sure and report 
on them as thev appear. 

If you have any comments or questions, don'l be shy about 
asking. I'll take up the broader issues here: otherwise cheek 
your email box for a personal reply, bhhb 

Michael A. Kuykendall has written for 1 several computer publi- 
cations and is currently president/sysop/general flunky for the 
Online Macintosh Users Group BBS in Atlanta (404.988.9904). 
Comments or suggestions may he sent in care of BBS Magazine. 
to the BBS via the sysop or to andyhirk@aol.com. 

BBS MAGAZINE 47 



Uncle ffmvir'y VummNtott /?fi//fm/v 

BY "UNCLE" HANK HURTEAU 



Pluck the Keyboard, Be a Star 

Basement to Stage shows the way (sort of). 
Plus: Mah Jongg, Mars and a BBS number finder. 



BASEMENT TO STAGE 

ROCKCITR.ZIP 
by Ronald Price 

Have you ever wanted to learn In play 
die guitar? If you're looking for a place 
to start, try this program. 

"Bascincnl to Stage" will lake you 
through the steps of buying the right 
instrument, along with an appropriate 
amplifier. Author Ronald Price says 
players can go "from basement lo stage 
in 365 days!" (hence llie name). I'm not 
too sure about that, hut by following the 
procedures outlined in litis program. 
you should at least be able to keep up 
with your friends. 

Hasemcnl lo Stage (UTS) stresses 
basicr- and b .1- of practice. The author 
believes that loo many aspiring gui- 
tarists "spend too much time in the 
basement impressing themselves with 
speed and Hash" and "fail lo learn 
scales and to use a metronome." 

BTS is a menu-driven tutorial that 
can be used at your own pace. The 
menu is split into several parts with 
chapters delv ing into such things as 
parts of a guitar, selling goals, gelling 



m 



1 



8 3 



UJjJJIJJJl 



— 



s 



+5=^ 



m 



in a band, rock chords, and scales. 
There are even a few pages of shed 
music to try out. 

Nice graphics pop up throughout die 
program and no sound card is required. 

So if you want lo jam or strum, give 
this, one a trv. 

The registration fee of S14.95 gels 
you a metronome, guitar Inner and 25 
more pages of music. 

LOCALBBS V1.3 

LCLBBS13.ZIP 

by J. A. Murrero 

There are several HRS lisls floating 
around out there. Some are quite exten- 
sive, listing thousands of BBSs around 
the country and the world. But what if you 
jusl want the local boards? Trv a program 
called LOCALBBS In J. A. Marrero. 



To use I he pro- 
gram, all you need 
to do is create a 
tcxl file listing 
your area code and 
all the exchanges 
local to you. Then 
simply run lire 
program from die command line. 

For example, type: LOCALBBS "tile 
name." where "file name" (minus the 
quotes) is the name of the file you want 
to check. Thai's il. 

If you wanted to check the USBBS 
list edited by Bob Breedlove 
(USRRS###,ZIP) you would use the 
command: LOCALBBS 
USBBS217.LST. 

,\e\l a lisiing of BBSs is produced 
that match the area code and 
exchanges you signified in llie 
LOCALBBS.XCH file. A file is then 
written lo your disk wilh an .LOC 
extension. 

There are also a few switches you 
can use to perform many kinds of 
searches, such as for area code only, 
siring or a single word. 

The author asks for a 85 donation. 



4B 



MARCH 1995 BBS MAGAZINE 



MAHJONGGV4.0 

MAJONG40.ZIP 
by Nels Anderson 

Let me admit it, I am not a fervent 

game player. While I do entertain some 
of the more popular titles, as veteran 
readers of this column know, a decent 
game of solitaire now and then is good 
enough for me. 

And one of the finest solitaire games 
you'll find is a Chinese tile game by 
Nels Anderson called Mali Jongg. 

Playing the game is quite simple. 
You start with a layout of 144 colorful 
tiles, and your objective is to remove 
them by pairs until you're left with an 
empty screen. Sounds simple, right? It 
isn't. 

The liles are stacked up to five high 
when you begin: therefore, some are 
covered. You proceed to remove pairs 
that are not blocked or covered by 
another lile. 

The graphics in this game are some 
of the best to be found anywhere, espe- 
cially with the fine details of the liles. 
And the general quality of Mali Jongg 
really impressed me. 

To play, vou can use either the key- 
hoard or a mouse (the keyboard works 
fine, but to get the most out of the game 
you'll want lo use a mouse). 

One of the unique features ol ibis 
package is the inclusion ol a lile editor. 
With this separate program, you can 
Create your own tile sets. It can be lime 
consuming, but the editor is pretty easy 
lo use and produces some very nice 
graphics. Hundreds of "homemade'" 
sets can be lound on most BBSs and 
online services. 

Another interesting feature added lo 
version 4.0 is the ability to archive your 
tile sets. This can save considerable 
disk space if you like to collect differ- 
ent sets. All you have lo do is ZIP the 
tile sets with the same name as the 




original, then delete the file with the 
.TIL extension. When you choose a set 
within the game, il will unzip and lie 
readv for use. Trust me, it works quite 
well. 

Mr. Anderson's Mah Jongg has been 
a favorite for years. And his latest ver- 
sions include some alternate board lay- 
outs. II' you've played it in the past, try 
it again. If you haven't seen it before, 
it's worth downloading. Keep in mind 
though, this is another game I'd have to 
put on die "addicting" list. 

Registration for Mah Jongg is S15. 
which gets you more tiles and board 
layouts. 

MARSPAL 

MARSDEMO.ZIP 
by Mark Feldman 

You may recall a short review I wrote 
recently on a program called MARS. 
With it you could "explore" a Martian 
landscape. It was a neat little program, 
but it only came in red (naturally). No 
more. 

Mark Feldman took that program 
and added the ability to change colors. 

To use MARSPAL. you have to run 
il in the same directory as MARS.EXE. 
You do this by typing: MARSPAL 
ground-color sky-color cloud-color. So, 
to make it look earth like, type: 
MARSPAL green blue white. There are 
unlimited possibilities, and although 
the program still has no real use. it's 
fun lo play around with. 

What is Shareware? 

Shareware is a special breed of soft- 
ware based on the honor system. It's 
known by a variety of names, each of 
which just means "try before vou buy." 

Shareware authors allow vou to try 
the program at no cost. II you like it. 
you're responsible for sending in the 

requested registration lee. If il 
isn't for you, try something 
else. But please, if you find 
yourself using a shareware 
program on a regular basis, 
send the author his requested 
fee. This will encourage the 
shareware authors to continue 
providing you with quality 
products at a reasonable 








Rusty Edie 

Dual Eliminator 

Rusty n Edie's BBS announces the 
introduction of their Dual Eliminator. 
Simply plug your phone line to the Dual 
Eliminator and then plug the Dual Elimin- 
ator into your modem. This device consists 
of 2 passive electronic filters Ihat handle both 
high and low frequency noise from the phone 
line. Both high and low frequency are 
independently adjustable with knobs that 
mount on the front of the unit. Surge 
protection is provided by an electronic 
varistor. 




A light emitting diode, also mounted on lhe 
front of the unit, glows whenever the device 
is eliminating noise from the phone lines. 
This device can solve the majority of noise 
problems associated with telecommuni- 
cations today, and is sold with a 30-day. 
money-back guarantee. They sell for $25 
each plus S4 shipping and handling. To 
order, call Rusty n Edie's at 216-726-4217. 
fax to 216-726-3595 or call their BBS 
number 216-726-2620; they will accept 
Visa, MasterCard and American Express. 

Rusty n Edie's BBS 

7393 California Ave. 

Youngstown, OH 44512 



MARCH 1995 BBS MAGAZINE 



49 



COMMODORE CONNECTIONS 

BY GAELYNE R. MORANEC 



CKit 94! 



Mad Man Software squeezes more 
into new the Compression Kit. 



Wl 

H; ouldtrt it be nice to 
have an easy-to-use and 
accurate program to com- 
press and back up files and 
disks? Mad Man Software 
look its Compression Kit 
program and gave it an 
overhaul — to CKit 94! — 
making full use of many of 
the C128s features, while 
maintaining compatibility 
for C64 users. 




The Compression K it (or CKit) was 
designed by Mad Man Software primar- 
ily for its own purposes,- While working 
on a major game product, because the 
programmers lived in different areas of 
the country, a need arose for a means of 
sending each other accurate copies of 
the software for testing. The) also want- 
ed il easy to use and to allow for some 
compression of die files. 

The CKit was designed to work with 
Creative Micro Designs' storage 
devices, and according lo Cene Barker 
of Mad Man Software, the program is 
reallv no! intended for slock systems 
consisting of a 1541 disk drive and i 
computer. Rather, it's intended mainly 
for those with larger storage devices 3 
dial need a method to back up the data 
to other devices for safe keeping. 

Accuracy was the aim of the first 
elease of the CKit, and having 

hieved this, the CKit 94! upgrade 
tackles the speed problem inherent of 
e [irsl release. 

CKit 94!-ehecks for and makes use 
of a Ram Expansion Unit (REU) — the 
VDC RAM of the Commodore 12" 
(either l6or61K)— DACC (Dim 1 
Access) partitions ill CMD's 
KA M Links, as well as available com- 
puter memory to use as bulfer space 
while copying and compressing. It also 
uses the 128"s two MHz mode when 
compressing files. 

Unlike other archival and eompres- 



5a 



MARCH 1995 BBS MAGAZINE 




ion programs, which require compli- 
cated commands, the CKit uses a 
menu-driven interlace. The screen dis- 
plays two windows for lite source and 
destination devices, and will toggle 
through the user's drives and/or parti- 
tions. CMD device paths for subdirec- 
tories musl be entered by the user, of 
course. 

Parts of the whole 

DECMIPER — CKit 94! includes 
Deeomper, a program which can be dis- 
tributed on MUSs so those who don't 
own the CKit can dissolve files com- 
pressed by it. The Deeoinper program 
could be considered a demo of the CKit 
itself, as it has fewer features, doesn't 
use any speed enhancements (like the 
CKit program does) and only dissolves 
files. 

PHOCOPY — Procopy is essentially a 
menu-driven file eopv utility with a lew 
differences. It lists the directory and 
allows the user to select files by high- 
lighting those lo copy. It then copies lo 
RAM and finally lo the destination 
device. If the option is toggled on. 
Procopy fully verifies the copies, both 
the RAM copy (before duping to the 
destination), and again on the destina- 
tion device. It also has the option to 
either delete selected files, or lo move 
selected Hies. The "move" option 
copies to the destination device and 



then de letes the file from the source 
device. This is an option not generally 
found on most Commodore file-copy 

utilities. 

ARCHIVES — For general hack-up pur- 
poses, the Archiver is iho recommended 
choice, according to the manual. As the 
name implies, the Archiver allows the 
user to select files arid compress them 
together into one or more files. The user 
can toggle Verify on or ofl. and if 
desired, limit the size of the output files. 

Output files can be from 100 disk 
blocks up to 20.000 blocks, depending 
on the eapacitv of the destination stor- 
age device. This option was included lo 
allow those with large capacity devices. 
like a hard drive, lo back up their data 
to a smaller drive. 

A chart is included in the manual as 
a guide to what the limit for different 
destination drives should I"'. and how 
many disks it's expected lo take. 

The Archiver in CKit 91! is 
improved from the original 
Compression Kit. It allows the same 
menu-driven selection ol files as 
I'rnropv does, and uses the above men- 
tioned memory and speed enhance- 
ments at full tilt. 

Aside from speed, the other 
improvement is allowing lor MS-DOS 
file naming conventions. Archived files 
end with specific letter and number 
designations, and when used with 
Ckit's normal file naming convention, 
it pads the name with spaces and adds 
its extension. The \IS-D( )S sly le allows 
eight characters and an extension with- 
out adding spaces. This change allows 
lor easier hie uploads to MS-DOS 
ISliSs. 

Disk and C/lflD Native Boas 

In early Commodore history, there were 
utilities such as Lynx and Zipeode!, 
which allowed entire disks to be 
archived into one hie and then 
uploaded to bulletin boards or stored 
for back-up. One did some file com- 
pression while the other didn't, and 
they worked only on 1541 disks. 

BOA — The CKit's disk Boas (think of a 
Boa constrictor squeezing your disk), 
accomplish the same lasks. but do so 
on any Commodore-tvpe disk or CMD 
device partition. In other words, it uill 



compress l.VH. 1571 and 1581 disks 
and partitions, as well as CMD device 
Native Mode style partitions. However, 
if you're in a burn, the Archiver is rec- 
ommended instead, as it will compress 
onlv files, whereas Boas archive and 
compress entire disk track and sectors 
— regardless of whether they are in use 
or not. This means if you had a file on a 
disk and deleted it. the deleted file is 
also compressed within the Boa. since 
it operates by track and sector. 

The manual recommends you avoid 
compressing "dirty" I i.e. used) disks or 
partitions for this reason. As with the 
Archiver. if the menu option is select- 
ed, it verifies and will blank the screen 
for compressing at two MHz (C128 
users only). 

MSSOIVER — The name of this is mis- 
leading. The two mentioned archive 
utilities. Archiver and Boa. have menu 
options for dissolving the correspond- 
ing files. This part of the program 
instead converts already archived files 
to self dissolving files with a .MAI) 
extension. Just as with the older .SDA 
(Self Dissolving Archive) files. .MAD 
files have a lim- 
itation of 192 
blocks for the 
original archive. 
These files can 
be uploaded lo 
bulletin boards 
and dissolved 
by the end user 
simph b\ load- 
ing and running 
the file, then 
following the 
prompts. 

( )ne ol the 
original com- 
plaints about 
The 

Compression 
Kit is still evi- 
dent in CKit 94! 
The compres- 
sion isn't what it 
could be. Oiven 
the choice 
between a slow 
program with 
great compres- 
sion, and a last 
one with 



mediocre compression. Mad Man 
Software took the middle ground. For 
archival back-up purposes this is quite 
functional, but for serious BBS use. the 
greater the compression the better. An 
added option allowing for slow but 
great compression would have been 
welcome by the Commodore BBSing 
community. 

The adtled benefit of the Decomper 
and .MAD self-dissolving files are still 
over-shadowed by the smaller file size 
of other compression utililies available 
for the Commodore. 

Dongle protection/SID/CIA 
and printer conflicts 

To protect their software from piracy. 
Mad Man went with a seldom used pro- 
tection scheme of including a "dongle" 
(or joystick) key with the software. 
When CKit is first run. the program 
cheeks for the key and reminds the 
user to insert it. If the key is not insert- 
ed into the joystick port, the program 
will lock up. 

Continues.. 



II 



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■ 111 J 



MARCH 1995 BBS MAGAZINE 



51 




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Due to the checks made for this 
Jungle, llic computer must have an "in 
spec" CIA and SID chip, or the pro- 
gram will assume ihe dongle isn't pre- 
sent and will lock up mid-process. 

My first attempts to use the software 
were unsuccessful, as there was a con- 
flict with one of these chips in my com- 
puter. 1 tried a different computer and 
didn't have the lockups. The manual 
also suggests that some printers may 
cause serial-bus lockups, and to turn 
off or disconnect printers from the com- 
puter. Because of this, use 
of the CKit is a planned 
event rather than a fast 
utility one can load and 
use at will. 

Practical uses 

I used CKit 94! to Archive 
and back up the subdirec- 
tories on my RAMLink so 
I could do some rearrang- 
ing and still have avail- 
able the files I use often. 
The back-up utility sold 
by Creative Micro 
Designs, BCopy. would 
have been inappropriate 
since it backs up entire 
partitions, rather than sub- 
directories. I also thought 
that archiving subdirecto- 
ries would allow me to 
have a fast replacement, 
should I have a need. 

The process of archiv- 
ing the fdes was faster 
than I thought it would be. 
even w ith full verification 
on. I used even' possible 
speed enhancement 
allowed by the CKil, 
REU. the VDC RAM in 
the 128. and the two MHz 
screen blanking option. 
When done, with a great 
deal of trepidation. I 
deleted my Bamlink parti- 
tion, created a larger one 
and dissolved the 
archived files back into 
new subdirectories. Then 
I wiped the worried sweat 
from my brow, as all of my 
files uere complete. 

A few days later when 1 



accidentally deleted 500 blocks of 
needed work files. I thought ol the 
archives, and managed to restore all of 
mv work files from the same archives 
I'd made to test the program. 

Whether the CKit's ease of use (in 
terms of ils menu-driven interface and 
the Decompcr program) will start a rev- 
olution in telecommunications use lor 
Commodore users remains to be seen. 
Regardless, it does create fast and 
accurate back-up files and disks. 

CKit 941 sells for $39.95 ($9.95 if 



upgrading) with a shipping fee of S5 
L'.S. and Canada (S 10 others). Mad 
Man Software can be reached at 1400 
East College Drive. Cheyenne, WY 
82007; or call 307.632.11 78. mm 

Gaelyne Moranec is a freelance writer 
and co-sysop of Ancient Heart BBS. She 
ran usually be found in the CB.M 
Fidonet echo. Comments or suggestions 
ran be set to 1:239/200, 
gaelyne.moranee@n'olrerine.eom or in 
rare of BBS Magazine. 



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B<f> Modem: 

408-847-0665 




MA- .!■ ' . BBS MAGAZINE 



53 



54 



MARCH 1995 BBS MAGAZINE 



MODEM DISCOUNTS 

BY MODEM MAGE 




em #!©%!! 



How to gel around those XID 
and error correction failures. 




uite often data communication can 
like an ancient black art. cloaked in 
ry and foreign tongues. This is where 
tfuTModem Mage thrives. Not in the dark 
secrets though, but rather in bringing the 
magic out into the open for all to under- 
stand. Over the next few communiques, we'll 
venture into the tangle of VFC and V.34 
technology. By the time we're done, both 
end-user and sysop should have a better 
understanding of what's going on and which 
modems are the best buy for traversing the 
online worlds. 



If you read ihe nets, you undoubtedly have seen complaints 
! i'diii mi K li-ni umt- regarding a scenario known .1- XID 
Failures or Error Correction failure. 

To a user or sysop, this can severely limit your online activ- 
ities. \\ hile many experience lliis problem, few understand it. 
Let's start with some basics and build over the next column or 
two. First of all. what's this XID (pronounced X - I - I), not /.id) 
stuff all about? 

The XID frame is exchanged between modems during the 
initial negotiation and defines error control and compression 
for the connect. This all happens before the "CONNECT" 
message, but after the datapumps (DSPs) have linked with 
each other. This XID information is handled by the modem 
supervisors and is critical to understand for a number ol rea- 
sons. Of chief importance is that in order for the modems to 
exchange the XII) frame, they must be passing good data back 
and forth. In order to do this, each must have determined opti- 
mal communication rates for the other modem's receiver. And 
this is where many modems fall into the depths of negotiation 
Hades. 

You can identify an XII) timeout condition in a number ol 



MARCH 1995 BBS MAGAZINE 



C ONTIHI E S 
55 ■ 



fashions depending on your modem 
type. Mosl Rockwell-based modems 
report the failure as "V.42 negotiation 
(ailed." L S Robotics modems show it as 
a Disconnect Reason: XID Timeout. It 
can also manifest itself as a CONNECT 
XXXXX/NONE connect message. The 
problem with these errors, of course, is 
that they typically mean you're starting 
at a disconnected modem session. 
Briefly, let's sec why this is happening 
and what yon can do In reduce the 
occurrence of such an annoying curve 
in the cosmic carpet. 

The XID frame must be passed at a 
reliable data rale since without it the 
modems arc yet to be operating with 
error correction. This process is also 
incredibly timing intensive. You're 
looking at milliseconds at this level. An 
obscure cause of a XID failure could be 
excessive line noise. If the line is so 
noisy as to not allow a clean XID frame 
across, the modems rnav sitnph give 
up. The most common cause is often 
termed a loo aggressive DCE rate nego- 
tiated by the modem receiver. 
Remember, llic modem receiver tells 
the opposing modem transmitter what it 
can handle. 

The third possible cause (and not 
that unusual) is poorly implemented 
V.42 code. If the problem goes away 
when you disable LAPM. the proba- 
ble cause is simply older Rockwell 
code. Most manufacturers will have 
an update to remedy this problem. 
The lesson in this last case is sim- 
ple: be sure you have up-to-date code 
before blaming the other guv for 
problems. 

Aggressiveness is an admirable 
quality for slaving dragons, but isn't 
always a good idea in data communica- 
tions. We see this rear its ugly head in 
a number of ways. Several Rockwell- 
based modems by S-regisler or design 
have a tendency to first announce to the 
opposing modem their ability to com- 
municate at 28.800 regardless of the 
actual quality of the line. This results 
in the user seeing a CONNECT 28800 
message. If the modem's DSP then sees 
loo man) block errors (because it really 
can't support 28800) it may request the 
modem to retrain. And i( this happens 
while the supervisors are wailing for 
the XID frame to pass, a resultant time- 
out condition will occur, and typically 



TABLE I — SYSOPS HIGH-SPEED MODEM DISCOUNTS BY VENDOR AND MODEL TYPE 



VENDOR/ 
PRODUCT 


14.4KV.32bis 
INTERNAL 


14.4KV.32bis 
EXTERNAL 


V.32TERBQ,V.FC 
V.34 INTERNAL 


V.32TERB0, V.FC 
V.34 EXTERNAL 


AT&T 
Paradyne 


3721-81-OOf 
S160 


3710-A1-20T 
S180PC:S190Mac 


N/A 


N/A 


CPI; 
ViVa 


ViVa 14.4 
S180 


ViVa 14.4 

S196 


N/A 


N/A 


Hayes Corp 


Optima 144B* 
S179 


Ultra 144 
S249 


N/A 


Optima 288+FAX 
v.FC 28.8k $288 






Optima 144+ FAX' 
S179PC;S179Mac 






Intel 


SatisFax/400 
S249 


14.4 EX 
S269 


N/A 


N/A 




Faxmodem 144i 
S99 


SatisFAXrtOOV 
S245 










Faxmodem 144e 
S109 






Microcorn 


N/A 


N/A 


N/A 


DeskPorte FAST 
v.FC 28.8k S2-9 










TravelPorte FAST 
v.FC 28.8k S249 


MuitiTech 


MT1432BC 
S400 


MT1432BA' 
$400 


N/A 


N/A 




MT1432ES 
S400 MCA 


MT1432MU' 
S300 










MT1432BL" 
$450 










MT1432PCS 
$575 






Practical 

Peripherals 


N/A 


PM14400FXSA' 
S215 


N/A 


N/A 






PM14400FXMT* 
S155 






Supra 
Corp 


SupraFAXModem' 
S129 


SupraFAXModem' 
S149 


N/A 


Supra V.FC 28k 
S169 


USRobotics 


N/A 


N/A 


N/A 


HSTV.Everything 
V.34. VFC, FAX' 
S249 


Ven-Tel 


PCM144FAX* 
S195 


EC144FAX* 
S215 


N/A 


N/A 




PCMV.32biS* 
S480 


ECV.32bis* 
S525 








MCM144FAX' 
S380 MCA 


RMV.32bisN' 
S425 






Zoorr 
Telephonies 


VFPV.32Bis" 
S99 


VFX V.32Bis" 
S119PC;S130Mac 


VFP V.FC 24k 
S99 


VFX V.FC 24k 
S119PC:S130Mac 








VFP V.FC 28.8k 
S139 


VFX V.FC 28.8k 
S159PC:S170Mac 


ZyXEL 


U-1496B- 16.8K 

S2-9 


U-1496E" 16.8K 

S299 


N/A 


U-1496E' 

■.-.32t-;ioo 16.8K S299 




U-1496B+" 19.2K 
S389 









' Modems with an asterisk include 14,400 baud FAX send/receive at no extra charge! 
Notes on Table I: 

1 . All internal modems are assumed to be PC-AT ISA bus unless otherwise noted. Some manufacturers do not offer inter- 
nals: be careful when ordering. 

2. Consult manufacturer for details on availability of Caller ID or voice-mail processing options (any modem above). 

3. These prices NEVER include shipping and handling, which is always extra. Tlypically S5 • S15 U.S. dollars. 

4. V.34 is International (ITU-T) standard for 28. 8K, This is not the same as V.FAST (generic name) or V.FC (Rockwell 
based 28.8K standard). 



56 



MARCH 1995 BBS MAGAZINE 



TABLE II — VENDOR CONTACT INFORMATION 



VENDOR 
NAME 


CALL THEIR BBS 
AT THIS NUMBER 
AND... 


...DOWNLOAD 
THIS FILE. 


IF YOU HAVE 
QUESTIONS OR 
PROBLEMS CALL. 


CONTACT VIA 
EMAIL 


AT&T Paradyne 


(813)532-5254 




ATTSYSOP.TXT 


(800) 554-4996 


t.bradshaw@paradyne.com 


CPI/ViVa 


(805) 499-9646; 


(215)746-9948 


CPIA.TXT 


(800) 854-7600 




Hayes Corp. 
Intel 


(404) 446-6336; 
(503) 645-6275 


(800) USHAYES 


H96SYSOP.TXT 
OFFER.TXT 


(404) 840-9200 
(503) 228-9707 


rlacy@hayes.com 


Microcom 


(800) 822-8224 




SYSOP.TXT 


(617)762-5134 




MultiTech 


{612)785-9875; 

(805) 496-4445 


(800) 392-2432 


PRICE.TXT 


(612)785-3500 




Pract. Per. 


SYSBBS.TXT 


(805) 497-4774 


GO PPIFORUM (CompuServe) 


Supra Corp. 


(503) 967-2444 




SYSOP.TXT 


(503) 967-2400 


supra@supra.com 


USRobotics 


(708) 982-5092 




SYSDEAL.TXT 


(708)982-5151 
(800) 550-7800 


support@usr.com 
CIS 76711,707 


Ven-Tel 


(408) 922-0988 




SYSDEAL.TXT 


(408) 436-7400 




Zoom Teieph. 


(617)423-3733 




ZOOMBBS.ZIP 


(800)666-6191 
(617)423-1072 


CIS 71333,1527 


ZyXEL 


(714) 693-0762 




ZYXEL.TXT 


(714) 693-0804 


sales@zyxel.com 



the modems disconnect. 

If the modem has an aggressiveness 
selling (%E, &N. S54). care must be 
taken. I usually recommend Idling the 
modem do it's jol>. II the device has 
ihe capability to determine what's best, 
why should I assume I know better and 
force il into a certain speed? II your 
modem is Rockwell based, beware ol 
%EO. %EO tells the modem to 
"Disable line quality monitor and 
auto-retrain." This sounds pretty scary, 
even to me. Many come this way from 
the factory so keep an eye out. Other 
aggressiveness settings like &N in 
USR's should be sel to CvNO whenever 
possible. 

Altering the aggressiveness of a 
modem by changing the available sym- 
bol rales is actually the best way to 



force a modem, if you must. This will 
narrow ihe scope of potential connect 
rates, while still allowing speed shift- 
ing. 

In mv lab I have mercilessly tested 
many modems and have found most to 
experience the forced aggressiveness 
and XII) timeout problems. Two manu- 
facturers seem to have tamed this 
beast: Hayes and US Robotics both 
perform admirably. While the Hayes 
does utilize Rockwell DSP code, they 
seem to have developed satisfactory 
work-arounds where necessary. USR 
modems experienced the XII) problems 
early on. but also seem to have resolved 
the issues in their latest code. 
Connecting these Iwo modems to them- 
selves or each other seems to work 
rather well. 



Next month we'll see just how w : ell 
these and others connect to each 
other — this lime not in a slerile lab. 
but in the real world. 

Sysop/Provider programs 

I've included a couple ol basic charts to 
help those who believe a picture (well. 
chart) is worth a page or two ol ram- 
bling text. 

The minimum performance level is 
v.32bis (14,400 bps), but will soon be 
displaced by V.34. All modems also 
must have v.42bis for error correction 
and data compression to make this list. 
The rightmost column of Table I shows 
all modems faster than 1 1400 bps that 
support at least v. 32bis standards. 



continues 



FrontDoor provides the automated 

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telecommunications to your door step. 

Provide She added interest of world wide 

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V;APCH -995 BBS MAGAZINE 



57 



I recommend only V.34 forsysops. 
End-users can economically afford In 
now live liy the same standards. The 
V.34 ITU-T standard offers 50 pereenl 
more throughput than v.32bis, at only 
minimal cost increases. It also offers a 
I letter chance at a high-speed connect 
(24,000-28.800) than VFC under mini- 
mal line conditions. Beware of upgrade 
plans lo v.FAST/v.3 1 modems, as vari- 
ous manufacturer programs vaiy greatly. 

More than a modem 

Some vendors offer more than just 



modems lo the sysops joining their pro- 
gram. For example, US Robotics offers 

substantial discounts off their 
ComniServcr 486 LAN product. Other 
vendors, such as ZyXel. offer big dis- 
counts on modem rnckmounts. A rack- 
mount reduces the tangle of multiplying 
power supplies and becomes economi- 
cal for sysops planning on larger, multi- 
line systems. 

Buyers' restrictions 

li \iiii maintain a system operating 2-1- 
hours per day for the last six months. 




What's OnLine? 

• Hot Aduit Graphics 

• Multi-Node Chat 

• Windows, Netware, OS/2, and Lantastic 
Network Tools 

• Ham Radio and Shortwave Listening 

• MIDI and Soundblaster Files 

• QWK Packets for off-line reading of over 
400 worldwide conferences 

• Internet and Fidonet E-Mail Access 

• 4.5 Gigabytes - New Files Daily 



609-753-2540. HST & V.22 
609-753-2605, HST & V.32 
609-753-1549, HST & V.32bis 



30 Minutes Free Access Per Day 



then you're eligible for any of these dis- 
counts. Some manufacturers onlv 
require that yon are currently running a 
BBS at time of ordering. A few may 
actually waive the current operating 
requirement. 

Once you receive your modem, 
you're expected to keep the BBS up 
and running between six and 1 2 
months (requirements vary). Generally. 
the modem is yours lo do whatever you 
want with after this period expire,-. 
Some manufacturers may ask you to 
never sell modems purchased on a dis- 
count plan. Modem resellers, such as 
computer stores, are generally excluded 
from participation in discount plans. 

Nearly all of the modem vendors are 
accepting VISA and MasterCard for 
orders. Some also accept a cashier's 
check or money-order lor prepay 
orders. Personal checks often require 
additional clearing time which iusl 
holds up your order. C.O.D. is becom- 
ing less common, and is rumored for 
phase-out by several of the larger play- 
ers over the next lew months. 

One requirement, which goes lot- 
nearly all vendors, is that they general- 
ly expect at least a one-line advertise- 
ment somewhere in your welcoming 
screens. For example; "Using the finest 
Model X 1 ! / modem from Acme Modem 
Co." would be perfectly acceptable in 
all cases. 

Order processing and 
availability 

Delivery times and schedules vary radi- 
cally, so your mileage may vary. Mam 
manufacturers arc placing orders on 
hold until they release V.34. Hayes 
typically shipped in li! hours, and lo 
the far extreme, US Robotics guaran- 
tees a two to six week waiting period. 

For Canadian, European and other 
sysops outside the U.S.. yon may or 
may not be eligible for discount offers. 
Please check carefully ahead of lime to 
avoid disappointment. ^ ou may want to 
check with their European subsidiaries 
before contacting the U.S. office. 

If you have information about manu- 
facturer discount-. please lea\ e llle a 
message at MorlemMag@ais.net or to 
Modem Mage c/o MbS Magazine. 



58 



MARCH 1995 BBS MAGAZINE 





PLANET CONNECT TV is now on the air each month bringing you additionannformation and 
the latest information about the BBS business and the Information loeicosbf Highway 



IvM'Iir^liiMlXJ; il^^^ 



satellite tv system or viewed from video tape.l 



615-623-9889 BBS 
Fido: 1:3615/50 






BOOK 



ii 




i ■>_ 



The Internet Business 
Companion; Growing Your 
Business in the Electronic Age 

by David Angell and Brent Heslop 
SI 9.95, 256 pages 

The idea of doing business on the Net 
seems to have finally gelled with the 
corporate world. While lots of 
Intemauts may find the whole idea dis- 
tasteful, to say the least, businesses 
large and small are finding virtual com- 
merce means the same in the end as 
any commerce: money. 

Trouble is. many start-ups and 
established businesses are finding that 
getting wired is not as easy as the hype 
says it is. That's where The Internet 
Business Companion (Addison-Wesley) 
wants to step in. 

Authors David Angell and Brent 
Heslop (Internet consultants and 
authors of The Instant Internet Guide), 
teach readers techniques for develop- 
ing cost-effective business strategies. 
They illustrate how to reach and ser- 
vice new markets and customers, and 
bow to evaluate Internet services, tools, 
products and consultants to determine 
"real'" cost and benefit. 

There's plenty of common-sense 
advice through- 
out, such as, 
"If you don't 
understand the 
tools and 
options of the 
Internet, then 
technical peo- 
ple (consul- 
tants, server 
services, ser- 



INTERNET 

BUSINESS 

COMPANION 




■ 



vice providers) will 
decide your business 
objectives, which can 
be costly." OK. but on 
the other hand, "tech- 
nical people" might 
make you rich. 

Some of the focus 
points here instruct 
readers how to: 

• market products 
using low-cost server 
options; 

• set up an online 
information source; 

• create an Internet 
storefront for conducting online sales: 
and, 

• understand the likes of FrP, 
Gopher, WAIS, and WWW. 

There's an appendix filled with 
resources such as service providers, 
Web page designers, software develop- 
ers and consultants. And a decent glos- 
sary will help you spell out (and figure 
out) all those crazy acronyms. 

Visual Basic Power Toolkit 

by Richard Mansfield 
and Evangelos Petroutsos 
839.95, 950 pages, CD-ROM 

Microsoft Windows has created a huge 
market for programmers, and Visual 
Basic is the software tool with which to 
tap it. 

Visual Basic has become something 
of a phenomenon, with Windows appli- 
cations — shareware and otherwise — 
popping up on boards everywhere. 

Visual Basic Power Toolkit (Ventana 
Press) aims to take VB programmers to 
places they've never been. Authors 
Richard Mansfield (Visual Guide to 
Visual Basic), and Evangelos 
Petroutsos write for the programmer, 
but in a step-by-slep fashion with prac- 
tical examples and sample routines, 

''Visual Basic Power Toolkit covers 
sophisticated, advanced topics, hut 
explains them so simply and clearly 
that anyone who programs in Visual 
Basic can easily add these impressive 
techniques to their own applications," 
said Mansfield. 

VBPT shows users how to optimize 
programs for speed, create custom 
DLLs, use the new Visual Basic for 



Applications, OLE automate and 
exploit the best, most useful built-in 
Windows APIs. VB's database manage- 
ment language is explained, as is the 
means for creating visual transitions, 
image processing and user-friendly 
interfaces. 

The book also delves into some of 
the more glamorous functions of VB, 
such as the integration of sound effects, 
voice, music, animation and video. 

Development of data security is also 
covered, with the authors so sure of 
themselves that they offer SI. 000 to the 
first person to crack the encrypted mes- 
sage in chapter 15. 

Along with the book comes the 
Visual Basic Power Toolkit CD-ROM 
containing all the program examples 
from the book, sounds, animations, 
third-party demos, as well as original. 
unreleased utilities from the authors. 

Ventana gets an extra plug for itself, 
too, as the book also contains an Online 
Companion, developed by Ventana 
Online and residing on the company's 
WWW server (http://www.vmedia.com/ 
vbtoolkil.html). 

Orders can be taken at 800.743.5369. 

America Oniine's Internet 
(Mac and Windows editions) 

by Tom Lichty 

S24.95, 400 pages, free AOL time 

If you're an OALer, you've probably 
heard about (or experienced) the wrath 
of experienced Net surfers. They're not 
alwavs kind to 



AMERICA ONLINE S 



those from 
AOL attempt- 
ing to explore 
the ins and 

outs of the 
Internet via 
America 
Oniine's 
graphical con- 
nection. Fear 
not. however: help has arrived. 

America Oniine's Internet (Ventana 
Press; for Mae and Windows) takes 
AOL members by the hand through tin- 
minutiae of "Netiquette" and the cul- 
ture of the Internet. 

Author Tom Lichty explains (with 
exercises) sending and receiving email, 
subscribing to mailing lists, participat- 




ed 



MARCH 1995 BBS MAGAZINE 



ing in newsgroups, searching with 
\Y.\IS and Gopher, and downloading 
files via FTP. 

The book is accompanied liy a disk 
which gives new users 10 hours free 
online time. 

How to Access the 
Government's Electronic 
Bulletin Boards 

by Bruce Maxwell 
S 19.95, 340 pages 

Last year we lamented over the fact that 
too many government HBSs were inac- 
cessible — down, temporarily olfline. 
unlisted numbers, or eliminated — and 
that in the future things could only get 
better. Well. 
according to 
one author, 
the future has 
arrived. 

How to 
Access the 
Government's 
Electronic 
Bulletin 



(WASHINGTON 
ONLINE 

How to Access 
the Government's 

ELECTRONIC- 
- BULLETIN 
BOARDS 



Hoards, by ISruee Maxwell 
(Congressional Quarterly Books, CQ 
Press), lakes the reader on a thorough 
trip to some 200 free U.S. Government - 
supported boards. Maxwell describes 
just about everything you need to know, 
from how to navigate a BUS to what 
you'll find when you get there. Each 
BBS is given at least a page of descrip- 
tion (data and voice numbers, time 
limit, snail mail address, email, files 
online, handy lips, and a few para- 
graphs about what the board contains). 
and each is categorized into chapters 
from agriculture to transportation. 

The book is straightforward and 
informative, with lew graphics getting 
in the way of its crisp design. It alsn 
claims the most comprehensive, up-to- 
date lis! of free federal government 
BBSs anywhere. 

Overall it's an excellent resource for 
anyone wauling to download ihe "full 
text of Treasury Department Circular 
570" or the bank of White House docu- 
ments. 

How to Access the Government's 
F.I eel ionic Bulletin Boards is the firsl 
volume in the Congressional 



Quarterly's Washington Online series, 
w liich continues in May with How to 
Access the Federal Government on the 
Internet, also by Maxwell. 

To order either book, call 
800.638.1710. HBB 



LIVEWIRE 



Support board for BBS 
Magazine (print and Online 
Edition) and Livewire Doors. 

Subscribe online or register doors using V/MC. 

Internet - Publisher@BBSCD.COM 

Fidonet- 1:226/36 
Get ad rates, insertion forms and deadlines. 

609-235-5297 

CALL FOR A FREE LOOK! 



MajorBBS Software! 




Digital Consulting Services is your 
one stop for all your Major BBS needs! l 
Call us to add FULL Internet 
Connectivity to your Major BBS! 



Specials of the Month: 
MajorBBS 2 User - $155.00 [ 

User 6 Packs - $170.00 
RIP Paint - $155.00 



GTEK BBS-550 w/cables - $395.00 

Digital Consulting Services 
800-899-2002 Sales 
212-697-7340 Support 

P0 Box 2142 - Secaucus, NJ 07094 



I 



CHANGE OF ADDRESS 

DON'T DELAY YOUR 

BBS Magazine - 

IF YOU'VE MOVED LET US KNOW! 



OLD ADDRESS 

(oflbc your mailing l:il»-l <ir fit! in ilx- nlil informal inn) 
Name 



Address 

City 



Stale/Zip Code _ 

NEW ADDRESS 

Name 



Address 

Cttv 



State/Zip (lode 

MAIL TO: 

Callers Digest hie.. 701 Stokes Rd., Medli.nl. NJ 08055. 



You may FAX this form at (609) 953-796!. 



MARCH 1995 BBS MAGAZINE 



61 



Bui| Or Ulin a subscription to BBJ (T)a?azine! 

via any member of our Authorized List of local BBSs running the CD SUB Door program. 



Those wishing to run CD SUB on their BBS should call The 
Livewire BBS at 609.235.5297 and download COSUB.ZIP for 
more information and registration instructions. 



LISTED IN ORDER OF AREA CODE: 

Chuck's Attempt BBS Chuck Ammann 201.729.2602 

The Third Millennium Jim Fromm 208.664.2983 

The Soul Connection Mike Demski 810.477.6695 

The Wolf's Den Keith Shinkle .206.584.4309 

Walter's BBS Walter Parrish 212.749.3268 

USS Inverness ...Jonathan McGirr 214.245.9315 

Collector's Edition Len Hull 214.351.9859 

The Lonesome Dove BBS Matthew Peacock 214.355.1835 

Community Netlink Kassie Stevenson 216.324.6410 

PC.Ohio Norm Henke 216.381 .3320 

The Scientist's and Musician's BBS Soo Kurz 216.639.9508 

The Play Board Jay Tipton 219.744.4908 

First Due Bulletin Board System Francis Fowler 301.949.1927 

Shareware Express BBS Shawn Bogardus 301.963.4453 

The 4th Dimension BBS Jeff Jones 312.284.7133 

Megabiter II George Belcher 314.281 .8598 

TheSTLCATII David Russo.... 314.351.7150 

Dreamscape Scott Brennan 315.458.3482 

Griswold's Private Reserve Jim Kelland 316.788.7520 

The Night Shift BBS Bill Hardy 404.478.9700 

Warp Factor BBS Mark Stewart 404.773.7966 

Music Connection David Coleman 404.936.0550 

Hotel California Lloyd Lawson 405.728.7124 

The Death Star BBS Nicholas Seabury 407.859.7428 

PereUne BBS Tom Serface 408.364.2789 

Wayne's World BBS Wayne Belvin 409.769.4249 

entertain me bbs!! Shawn Cupec 412.567.6782 

Uncle Hank's BBS Hank Hurteau 413.527.8977 

Platinum Express Glenn Jarvis 416.770.6917 

The Data Center BBS Jeff Burton 502.443.6014 

Chemeketa Online Bob Hunter 503.393.5580 

Southern Online Services Russell Jackson 504.356.0790 

Computer Solutions of Hammond BBS. Sidney Egnew 504.542.9600 

Computer Confident Edward Zdrok, 508.528.2295 

Schunix — Pub UNIX Robert Schultz 508.853.0340 

The Moonflower BBS Peter Link 509.891.6148 

The Night Owl II Danny Dyess 512.836.4262 

Ranch House BBS Larry Easley 512.945.9304 

The Main Street BBS Steve Jansen 515.628.3101 

Your Software Resource John Woodstock 516.736.6662 

The Wish Book Lome Shantz 602.258.7113 

The Ghost House BBS Michael Haley 606.441.2130 

The Livewire BBS Richard Paquette 609.235.5297 

Next Generation BBS John Carcione 609.482.7345 

Tao BBS Bob Watson 609.587.2672 

Radio Wave BBS Tyler Myers 609.764.0812 

BB's BBS Bob Browne 609.768.6585 

Computer Gaming Network BBS Gregory Moore 609.778.4442 



P.C. MegaMall Michael Wielenberg 612.488.5112 

The Vault BBS Keith Ketcham 614.387.2762 

The Lebanon Link Bruce Richardson 615.399.0707 

PC Junction BBS Doug Carpenter 615.478.2890 

Data World BBS Sean Dudley 615.966.3574 

The Registry BBS John Kern 615.870.0794 

Channel 1 BBS Brian Miller 617.354.8873 

City Lites John Lundell 701.772.5399 

The Dockside BBS Danny Cook 703.731.0601 

Mountain Air BBS Edward Wood 703.427.0226 

The Last Resort BBS Derek Figg 703.435.8644 

The Arlington Software Exchange Jay Falvey 703.532.7143 

Xsword's Haven Randy Hedgecock 703.638.7580 

World Data Network Tony McClenny 703.620.8900 

Central Ontario Data Systems Robin Wells 705.722.8194 

Download Dungeon Super BBS Paul Stewart 705.749.2345 

Adline U.S.A.! Charles Parker 708.260.8818 

Castle KingSide Don Martin 708.546.0301 

Suburban Software Chuck Valecek 708.636.6694 

System Software BBS Wayne Lawton 708.367.7851 

Great Northern BBS Michael Wilson 708.634.9368 

Chicago Syslink George Matyaszek 708.795.4442 

Addison Dos Haus LeRoyHeinJr 708.832.7754 

BBS Data Systems Greg Kaiser 708.991.2452 

Bowlers Across America Dennis Asfour 713.873.5702 

The Solar System ...Peter Guethlein 714.837.9677 

The Liberty BBS Steven Grande 714.996.9999 

Cyberia Sara/Adam Viener 717.840.1444 

Rama One BBS Tommy Brunning 718.366.6165 

Holmen's World Michael Holmen Sr 718.529.8890 

Time Out! BBS Mark Solomon 804.596,2131 

Formula 350 Eric Lundberg 805.499,5717 

The Seaside Les Jones 805.964.4766 

The Casual BBS Pat Cargill 810.631 .6885 

Genesis Network BBS Daniel Thompson 813.942.0323 

The Contrails BBS Joe Richter 817.355.9252 

Sleuth BBS Mark Valentine 818.727.7639 

MetroplexBBS Rick Vanhooser 901.327.1895 

Dataland! BBS Rick Young 908.572.5762 

CyberCulture Todd Novak 909.797.3135 

The Ouija! Board Online Services Keith Burgner 909.925.9564 

The Publishing BBS Mike Robinson 913.784.7171 

Databank BobOyler 913.842.7744 

Mirage Network N.Y Brian Buffell .914.426.0729 

Dark Side of the Moon Peter Cacchioli 914.621.2865 

Executive Info Network Andy Keeves 914.667.4567 

Powerboard Support BBS Scott Brown 914.833.1479 

Golden State Gregory Smith 916.585.2281 

Black Gold BBS Michael Cline 918.272.7779 

The Hub! BBS Warren Farrimond 918.627.0923 



62 



MARCH 1995 BBS MAGAZINE 



GET CONNECTED 




Feature-Packed 

We've listened to our customers over 
the years. We've worked hard, and will 
continue to work hard to produce the 
BBS software that you and your callers 
want to use. Times change and we 
feel it's important to keep up. 



To try listing all of our 
features on one single- 
page ad wouldn't do us 
justice. So, try the 
DEMO and let us know 
what you think. 




Multi-Network 

Virtual BBS offers unsurpassed 
BBS networking power and 
flexibility. Included as standard 
with every Virtual BBS package 
are interfaces for Internet and 
VirtualNET. Adding additional 
networks, network types, and 
setting up gateways between 
networks is easy, thanks to our 
unique Multi-Network Engine. 

Configurability 

! As your needs change. Virtual BBS 
grows with you. Definable menu 
blocks and an extensive built-in 
programming language are just 
some of the ways in which you 
can customize your multi-user 
Virtual BBS system. The package 
also includes support for multiple 
languages and system operator 
editable "strings," so you can fully 
modify the output of your system 
for the ultimate desired 
presentation. 

Free DEMO 

To receive a complimentary, fully 
operational DEMO version, call us 
at (616) 399-8934. 

To download the latest DEMO, call 
our multi-user Virtual BBS system 
at (616) 399-4818. 



Virtual CdmTech 

International, Inc^ 



124G ELISABETH AVE 

Holland Ml 49424 



6 1 6-399-8934 VOICE/FAX 
a 1 6-399-4B 1 S DATA 



CLASSIFIED ADS 



The classified ads are for Pre-Owned items 
& Software, and for BBS ads only. Ads for 
new equipment must be inserted in the reg- 
ular display advertising sections. No logos, 
or photos, or any other illustrations can be 
used in the classified ad section. 

INSTRUCTIONS are provided to keep the ad 
rate low and to ensure accuracy. Use the 
form on the next page to type or print your 
ad. Ads received that are difficult to read will 
be returned. Write the desired category at 
the top of each ad. If a category is not speci- 
fied, the ad will be placed in the Misc. sec- 
tion. If more than one ad is submitted, use 
a separate piece of paper for each ad. 
Ensure that your complete name and 



address is at the bottom c-f each ad sheet. 

CLASSIFIED RATES S25 per issue or S250 
per year. Ads can contain up to 300 char- 
acters. The name of the BBS is set in bold- 
face capitals. All other type is plain only. 

Fill out the form on the next page and FAX 
your ad to 609-953-7961 or MAIL it to BBS 
AD, Callers Digest, Inc., 701 Stokes Rd.. 
Medford, NJ 08055 with check, money 
order, or credit card information. 

Classified ads are purchased 60-90 days in 
advance. BBS Magazine is not responsible 
for incorrect telephone numbers/addresses, 
nor is it responsible for any claims made by 
classified advertisers. 



BBS ADS 



AAG BBS, almost anything goes BBS: Located in 
Jackson. Ml, running Galacticomm's Major BBS. is 
an 8-line system with 15 gigs. Yes that's right 
15.000 Megs of files. Supporting 8 Gigs of Adult 
files, and 7 Gigs of IBM. Unix and Amiga files. Over 
700 online adult stories, Online Chats, Games, 
Forums, and Daily Lotto. There is absolutely no file 
ratios, and no time limits on the system. The price 
is right, only .08 cents/hour, or S30/year. Come see 
for yourself, and enjoy all we have to offer. 1-517- 
789-9826 (2400). 1-517-789-8608 (9600). 

ABC ON-LINE, 718.446.2157, over 100,000 files. 
GIFs. Online publications, Mews, Databases, Inter- 
net E-Mail and Usenet Newsgroups. Special Interest 
Forum, Online Games.AII high speed 28.800 BPS 
modems.One month free trial period. MasterCard 
and VISA accepted.You must be 18 or older, please. 

ADLINE, U.S.A!, (708) 260-8818 80386 W/330M6, 
2400bps, Free Service, over 2,000 programs: Busi- 
ness, Games, Graphics, Pictures. Adult. Free 
Classified ads. Ads from local businesses. "The 
Future of Information Services." 

ADULT EXXXTACY BBS 209.962.4045, Pine Mt. 
Lake, CA since 1 986. Large Hi-rez adult file collec- 
tion and 1 CD Rom's online. Mew Member Bonus 
- Adult Burlesque Video Tape of our California 
Coeds with each S25/yr membership. Visa and MC 
accepted online. Sysop: Victoria Cummings. 

AMERICAN ATHEISTS ONLINE 512.302.0223, 
Resources and information for Atheists. Files on 
Atheist thought and history, religion, state/church 
separation, the religious right. Home of the echo 
TheisLWatch. Sponsored by American Atheists, P0 
Box 21 17, Austin TX 78768. 



THE ANARCHIST'S BBS 214.289.8328, is a 
resource for anarchists, survivalists, adventurers, 
investigators, researchers, computer hackers and 
phone phreaks. Categories include: Bombs, 
Computer hacking, Drugs, Fake ID, Firearms, Fraud 
and con games, Investigation techniques, 
Locksmithing, Phone phreaking, Political, 
Surveillance and Survival. 



ASIAN PENPALS, 301.203.0281. Romance. 
Friendship, Love. Correspondence. World Club 
BBS features a rotating filebase of 200 GIF photos 
and bio-data of attractive Asian ladies overseas 
who desire American penpals. Also: Asian adult 
GIFs. Adult Japanimation, Cfiatlink, Forums etc. 

BCS BBS, (213) 962-2902, Four High Speed 
Modems(DS) and growing. Gigs of files with the lat- 
est files added every day. Qsoftv/are support. Intel- 
ligent Conversations, Excellent Conferences, ever 
expanding on-line services. One week FREE 
access! 



CAFEXPRESS BBS 708.934.1940. Gap Communi- 
cations at 14.4bps. Chicagoland's newest BBS. 
Come help us grow. Mo access fee. intelligent con- 
versations sen/ed fresh daily on our message bases. 
Special forums for comic collectors and role play- 
ing games. Magick and Elfwolfe invite you to be 
their guest. 



CALIFORNIA INTERNET 51 0.596.9977 Telnet cal- 
ifornia.com. We have over 7.000 game files, over 
12,000 shareware files, California Wine Online, 
shopping, public access real estate, cruise only trav- 
el agency, custom forums, parapsychology online, 
live chat, multiplayer games including DOOM. Rip 
graphics plus more. 

CD-ROM TELEPHONE DIRECTORIES, Wanted tele- 
phone directories from: U.S. West. NYNEX, Locator 
Plus, Prodirect. Bellsouth. Cole, Tele-Disc, 
(Phonedisc 1987-1990) Lotus market place, infodi* 
red, People Finders, any voter files, DMV files, + etc., 
or? (no prophone please). 516-365-7B85 service. 

CHANNEL 1 ONLINE, 617-354-3230 — Using 
PCBoard, "The Best Files in the USA". 90 lines, 
v,32bis support. 96 IBM file libraries; Amiga; Mac- 
intosh; Unix; Adult. Massive Windows, .GIFs, sound 
files collections. Online games and shopping. Echo 
Mets. InterNet. Over 2,500.000 calls and growing. 
Come Join us! 



COMPUBASE 305.748.7791. 0409. 0004. The 
new kid on the block. 3 high speed 14.4 nodes. We 
welcome users of all ages, Adult section for 18 + 
callers. 1 GIG of capacity and growing/expanding. 



COMPUTER CONNECTIONS BBS 718.816.1808. 
Staten Island. NY. Free top notch technical help on 
computer hardware and software. Supporting up to 
28.B kbps. Online games, poker, blackjack, slots, 
lotto, bingo. " Multiplayer DOOM "* up to 4 play- 
ers battle it out in each game. F-15, Wing Com- 
mander armada plus much more. 

CORPUS CHRISTI ONLINE 512,850.8255, Real 
Estate w/photo5, business, international trade. 
fed/state/local jobs. Largest info source for south 
Texas includes business directories, Free trade 
news, PC Magazine, classified ads. SIGs, Nafta files. 
Limited free access to jobs and real estate. 

THE CRUSADER BBS 213.466.4482, Holly- 
woad/LAX 310 area. Sysop: Jack Farmer. Wildcat 
w/5 lines (14,400). 4 Gig online. S45 yr/no limits. 30 
min. day free w/limits. Fidonet/lnternet conf's. 
100,000+ files. 6 online CDRoms. Chat. Geoworks 
files/conf's. Fun + Files + People + Games + Info. No 
Adult Files. 

CYBER COMM NETWORKS, 708.697.9572 Elgin, IL 
Sysop: Armor Robinson using C-Met 2.63, Supra 
14.4 with 25gB. Fee S4.60/month. Featuring easy to 
use message forums, kids & women only sections, 
singles meeting, hobby and adult areas, online chat, 
matchmaking, games, catalogs and ads. 255k files 
serving IBM, MAC, Unix & Amiga. The BBS where 
you make a difference. 



CYBEROTICOMM 212.803.5405. local access 
available from 201, 516 and 914. Exciting, fun. 
social board for adults only. Join us for chat, spe- 
cial interest forums, straight and fetish file libraries, 
personals and a shopping mall of hot products to 
suit your desires. Become part of a dynamic online 
community with an excellent male/female ratio. 

DIGITAL ENCOUNTERS 615.922,5895, Adults only 
BBS. Offering Matchmaker, Adult files, Adult 
forums. Adult Chat. Star Trek and X-Files. Forums 
and the latest shareware. First 30 days are FREE. 
900 service available for instant access. 



DUSTV'S BAR & SOCIAL CLUB 714.995.8830. 
/14.995.9054. Anaheim CA since 6/94. Sysop: Bib 
Bubba. Using MajorBBS 6.21 with 2 lines (4 more 
1/95) on MS-Dos 486. Hayes 28.8 modems. 
Games, Chatlink, Majornet. Online magazines, sport 
news, children, teen, adult sections. Logon for more 
info. 8N1.5 hrsfree. 



THE FETISH NETWORK BBS, Inject your modem 
with the finest in leather alternatives. Join Goddess 
Dianna Vesta & other famous Mistresses & 
Fetishist. 16 lines. Lots of files, shopping, high 
speed modems. Worldlink, Kinklink. National 
Local access 305.583.8407. 



THE FRIENDSHIP EXPRESS BBS 612.566.5726. 
since 12/88. 54 lines best kept secret in America, 
nternet newsgroups, email, telnet address 
204 96.28.2. Members in all 50 States and Canada. 
For swingers, gays, lesbians, bi, straight, leather, 
Xdressing, B&D, S&M. etc.. free swing mag. A top 
100 BBS. 



THE GARBAGE DUMP BBS, 505.294.5675. 110 
incoming lines, nationwide local access available. 
Huge system featuring realtime chat, message 
forums, massive shareware file library with 12 CDs, 



64 



MARCH 1995 BBS MAGAZINE 



online dating registry, online trivia, casino style 
games, multi player adventure games, Adults Only! 

THE GENERAL BBS, 619.281.1581. teatures our 
own local San Diego "Giffy Girl" models' Git pictures 
and email! Over 10 gigs of files, over 60,000 total 
files, over 1 8,000 adult Gifs. GLs, text files, DLs. etc. 
20 lines, all high-speed, email from Usenet. Fidonet. 
Relaynet, Wildnet, Keshernet and more. 

GRAFTECH'S CORNER BBS 610.566,9435. 
RoboBoard/FX with 2 lines. Over 1200MB of great 
games, apps. and GIFs. Check out the cool ROBO 
GUI. Online shopping Mall with computer Periph., 
supplies, Music CDs, and more. Home of the Auto 
Repair Manager, Trim Shop Manager, and CrafTech 
Business Manager. No Fee (really!) 

GRAPHICS TOUCH BBS 81 3.750.6900. Bradenton, 
FL. Email, Newsgroups, OneNet Member, Graphics 
Services of all kinds. Print Posters, 3D Digitizing of 
objects, Animation Frames transfer. Scan slides, 
prints, negatives. 3D objects forsale — trees, etc. 
Heat Transfer from your photos by mail or com- 
puter. 



INSTANT ACCESS, 908.888.3959 Progressive 
adult & non adult file/message areas.With 22 Gig of 
file/message areas to suit all Lifestyles. Full Inter- 
net access.Telnet us at instbbs.camba.com Instant 
Access via Credit Card or TABS. FREE trail access. 



INTIMATE IMAGES ONLINE 415.598.0898. Spe- 
cializing in our own adult photography. Video for 
Windows clips from our original videos. Home of 
the famous Women of PBG. Male pics also avail- 
able. 1000s of erotic images. Free samples down- 
loadable on your first call. 

JUST SPORTS ONLINE 503.226.4228. A new 
national, sports information service. We cover Pro 
and College Sports, Las Vegas odds, Sports chat, 
stats, real-time game scores, full text news articles, 
custom fax service, lop 25 polls, college recruiting 
hotline, schedules and more. Free trial. 

KBBS LOS ANGELES 818.886.0872 Telnet 
204.96.25.7, 1000s single adults, weekly parties, 
shareware. GIFs, Games, and DOOM wads, 24/hr 
Worldlink chat. Online games. TradeWars 2002, 
Erotica, Trivia, DOOM game Connection. Internet: 
Telnet, Rlogin, IRC, FTP, WWW, Gopher, MUDs 
etc.. Free Trial. 



THE LIVEWIRE BBS 609.235.5297 (v.everything), 
support board for BBS Magazine both the print and 
online version. Home of Livewire Door Collection. 
Internet, Fidonet. Throbnet, ILink, Usenet. Register 
Livewire Doors online using your Visa/Mastercard. 
Join and receive a 6 month subscription to BBS 
Magazine as a gift. Support and home for Door- 
frame (door writing kit) available for Quick Basic 
4.5. BasCom and Visual Basic. 



MAC LINE, 608-233-1798 FirstClass system at 
14,400bps. Mac files, messages, news, chat etc. 
Playmaker Football league. Mac Guru Conference. 



MAIN FRAME BBS, (301)-654-2554. PCBoard 
v15.1. Online since 1984. Now with 16 lines, voice 
support and 28.8 Kbps modems. 24 hour online Inter- 
net access via Telnet bbs.mainframe.com. Gigabytes 
ot files. 6 CDRom's and close to 100 doors. Hundreds 
of networked conferences. Guest accounts and online 
subscriptions available. Please give us a call. 

M0DEMB0Y BBS, 310.659.7000. Gay/bi/curious, 
Instant access, free chat, global access. 32 lines. 
2400714400bps, 1.2 gig downloads, color GIFs, 
friendly, campy fun! 



CLASSIFIED ORDER FORM 

Classified Dept, Callers Digest. Inc.. 701 Stokes Rd. Medfurd, NJ 08055 
The rate is ,825 per ad up to 300 characters long. Save money and send $250 lor a 
full vear of advertising. The BBS name or first two words are set in bold capitals. All 
other type is plain. If you wish lo have a heading category nol listed, simply write in 
this new category and we will create it for your ad. 

PLEASE TYPE OR PRINT. 

Run this ad under the heading of 



(For additional words, use separate sheet of paper) 
NAME 



ADDRESS 
CITY 



STATE 



ZIP 



PHONE (home) 



.(bu 



Run class ad for 



issues, ravinen 



lof'S. 



■ncloseii. 



IF PAYING BY CREDIT CARD. YOU MAY FAX THIS FORM TO (<i09) 953-796L 

M/C VISA I circle one) # cxp. date 

Sign al tire 



MODEM BUTTERFLY'S BBS, 818.842.6900, 
Instant access. Global accessible, Intelligent tun. 32 
tines, 2400/14400bps, 1.2 gig downloads, online 
contests, lively public forums, G*Spot, writers & 
entertainment biz, technical support, local events. 



THE NEXT GENERATION BBS 609.482.7345, 
Home of Trek Trivia, 750+Megs of the latest adult 
GIFs. Throbnet, Fidonet. Join and receive a 6 month 
subscription to BBS Magazine as a gift. Couple 
CDRoms online, Gigs of files, newsgroups etc. 



NIGHTVISION 909.369.6556. Monthly amateur GIF 
contests — free memberships available to entrants! 
Internet email and news groups, massive library of 
adult GiFs and text files, live group and private chat, 
online games, adult networks, all 16 lines at 
14.400bps, only S69.00 per year. Visa/MC online. 



OBITUARY BBS, absolutely NO rules! Devoted to 
SB/VGA demos, Ansi, GFX Mod Music, Fantasy 
Gifs. All the shareware you need and large Adult 
area! (718)274-3769 up to 14.4k v.32. v.42bis... 
100% FREE! 

ONE EYED JACK'S 810.399.2845. 1 5.000 Hot sexy 
adult GIFs online. Thousands of adult text files, wild 
XRated movies, and sizzling fantasies. We are set up 
with the first time user in mind, with an easy to use 
interface. No hourly fees. Only ,45 cents per file 
download. Visa/MC accepted online. Hayes 14.4 



NITEL0G BBS — 54.000+ files: Dos, Mac, Win- 
dows. Unix, Amiga, OS/2, Newton & Adull files. 
Email areas including Internet. Usenet, Fidonet, 
Rime, ILink. Local call in 100 metro areas, Call for 
details. 408.655.1096, 28.8k lines available. 



PINECL1FFE BBS, (303)642-7463, Pinecliffe, Colorado 
since 01/82. Sysop: Craig Baker. Using UltraBBS 2.09 
Beta with 14 lines on MS-DOS 80388 with 9500 MB 
storage. USFtobotics at 14400 pbs. No fee. Largest 
BBS in RockyMtn area. FREE (S20/yr gets 2hrs/day. 
S100/Lifetime membership.) 60,000 zips. CD-Roms 
online. Games. Home of CDBREG — allows immedi- 
ate upgrades with credit card. Sysop also a computer 
store. NightOwl Rom S59. Help us grow. 



MARCH 1995 BBS MAGAZINE 



C o N T I N I E S 
65 



PRIME NETWORK, the only real Christian Network 
on earth, PreRapture BBS 919-286-3606. Acts 
2:38. John 3:5 download prime.zip for Network kit. 

SAN ANTONIO 0NLINE21 0.734.9141, Real Estate 
w/photos, business, international trade, 
fed/state/local jobs. Largest info source for south 
Texas includes business directories. Free trade 
news, PC Magazine, classified ads. SIGs, Nafta files 
Limited free access to jobs and real estate. 

SMALL BUSINESSNET BBS, 1-404-339-1101 — 
America's favorite home and small business BBS! 
Database. Point-of-sale. Invoicing, Inventory. 
Communication, Spreadsheet. Financial Manage- 
ment. Customer Tracking. Utility, etc. software to 
support your growing business! 



SOUTH SHORE SECRETS BBS 617.383.2789, is a 
full feature BBS. We have thousands of adult text 
and picture files, all sexual preferences supported. 
SSS is networked to 30 Adult BBSs through out the 
US. S50 per year buys it all. Call voice 617.383.2264 
for a free look. SSS, Home of the Marynet. 

SUBURBAN SOFTWARE 708.636.6694, Home of 
"King ol the Board"*, one of the oldest and most 
supported door programs in United States, Strike 
93. Word Nerd. Ansi-View. Deluxe Hi-Lo and many 
others. Members on RIME, MetroNet, Usenet, 
Fidonet newsgroups, always new files, support for 
Doorframe plus much more. 

TAVERN BBS 717.671.3760 Central PA's newest 
and largest BBS. offering Online Magazines, tons of 
shareware, exciting games, featuring Cybertank. 
Internet, national chat link, forums and matchmaker. 
Ail with custom RIP graphics. Immediate access 
with free demo. Call now and join the Club! 

TRI-STATE, Northeast's Largest Growing System. 
7 iines, 1-201-935-8634, Up to 19.200. Mail, BBS 
Links, Live Conferences and more. 

THE VIRTUAL VILLAGE 708.598.1606, Free trial, 
download on first call. Unlimited downloads with 
subscription. Call today and read our electronic 
magazines and news services. Adult multiplayer 
games and chat. Gigabytes of files, only the best in 
shareware, CDRoms online. Fidonet. Internet 
email and newsgroups. 



Hot Modem Fun! 

Press Any Key To Continue! 




• Live CHAT in Groups or Private! 

• Uncensored, Nightclub Atmosphere! 

• Large XXX GIF & Shareware Libraries! 

• Live Internet Access ^Custom Interface! 
•Matchmaker "Dating-Base"! 

• Live Modem to Modem Gaming! 
Local Numbers Nationwide! 

Plus Much, Much, More! 



Join Today - Call By Modem Now! 

,„ lfl 818-358-6968 nu 



WILDWARE! BBS, 209.277.3005, demonstration 
and support BBS for Wildware! software add ons 
for the remarkable Wildcat! BBS software. Add ons 
include wwVerify — a call back verifier, 
wwflroadcast, wwBirthday, wwNewuser and more. 
New add ons always being developed. If you are a 
Wildcat! sysop and want the best for your Wildcat! 
BBS, give Wildware! a call. 

WOODNET — THE WOODWORKERS BBS 
515.245.9663. New BBS devoted totally to wood- 
workers. Forums, teleconferencing, helpline, GIFs, 
project plans to download, databases of plans, 
techniques, tools, and sources. First month free. 
S1 9.95/6 months or S29.95/year for full access. 
Special forums for woodworking clubs. 

WORLD DATA NETWORK 703.620.8900 / 
301.654.2554. Online since 1984, Internet: telnet 
wdn.com (email, ftp. gopher, newsgroups and tel- 
net). 35 lines. 28.8k modems, 100 doors, PC World 
Online news. <ASP>and AOP members. 3000 mail 
network forums, over 80.000 files. Authorized 
PCBoard BBS reseller with installs. 



MISC. CLASSIFIEDS 



Free legal advice to sysop members. We under- 
stand the legal issues facing sysops. Skilled high 
tech lawyers maintain forums on crucial legal top- 
ics and are available to respond to specific prob- 
lems. All basic advice is included with your mem- 
bership. Multiverse log-on. 216.664.6776, voice 
216.344.3080. 

Deep Green Motherboards turn off IDE disk drive 
and power-dov/n sleep mode, just like laptops. 
Choose 5 or 3.3 volt model. For all 486 cpu's and 
speeds, 3 VESA slots: 256 cache, x36 (PS/2) 
SIMMS. S225.00 free freight. Software Express 
800.326.7083, cserv 72377.3634 BBS 
504.486.2371. 

Live one-on-one with beautiful, sexy ladies who 
want to talk to you... also live chat with a group or 
listen to our recorded fantasyline. You may even 
participate in our dateline. Call 900.745.0865 ext 
383. S2.99 per min. Must be 18+ Touchtone only 
and straight lifestyles only. Infoservice, Studio City. 
CA 213.993.3366. 

IDS World Network, customer 800.IDS.1680, 
Modem 914.637.6100. Complete Internet access 
solutions. Dial-up. SLIP/PPP. Corporate SLIP, 
SIG's. Games. FTP. WWW. Gopher, Chat, Airline 
Tickets. Direct online access to CompuServe and Del- 
phi (with an account). Much more. Call for 1 week 
free trial. 



Livewire Doors! Send 4-1.4 disks with a stamped 
return envelope to: Livewire Doors, PO Box 416, 
Mt. Laurel NJ 08054. Total of 35 door programs 
which will operate with any BBS software which 
can run doors. 

BBS Magazine BACK ISSUES! Save when ordering 
back issues. Send your mailing information along 
with S5.00 for each back issue. When ordering 3+ 
issues send only S3.50 each to: BBS Magazine, c/o 
Back Issues. 701 Stokes Road, Medford NJ 08055, 
Please specify which back issues your would like. 
All available except April 91 issue is sold out. First 
issue is Sept 90. 



66 



BBS expert needed for part-time consulting in NYC 
for expanding company with new concept of com- 
puter kiosk. Technical and instructing abilities a+. 
FAX resume referenced BBS to 212.925.5723. 

MARCH 1995 BBS MAGAZINE 



NEWSBYTES WEEKLY — The world's #1 newser- 
vice covering the latest developments in comput- 
ers and communications is now available on a 
weekly basis for as low as SI 5 per month. Price 
includes a FREE reader program for CoConet. 
Major BBS, PCBoard, TBBS, or Wildcat. To sub- 
scribe online call (612) 753-5286. For more infor- 
mation call (612) 753-3994. 

College Degree without Classes/Study: I succeed- 
ed at major school, you can get credits too! 
Comprehensive guide S5. Grants, bonus included. 
William Kemble, Dept. BBS-50, P0B 4352. 
Kingston, NY 12401. 



BOARDS/ADD-ON CARDS 



16550 Uart chips and double socketed AT I/O 
boards. Reasonable prices, online orders accept- 
ed by calling (301) 654-2554. 



ONLINE MAGAZINES 



If your favorite computer retailer, newstand. 
book store, etc. doesn't carry BBS Magazine. 
then have them call us at: 609-953-91 10 for 
more details on how they can have BBS 
Magazine'm their store. 



ADVERTISER'S L« 



AI'IM 26 

BUS \l VGAZINE 1 1 

BC COMPUTERS ,8 

CDS BBS -14 

CHANNEL I to 

CLARK DEV, CO.. INC OBC 

CYBERL1NK , 22 

DELRJNA <>; 

DIGITAL CONSULTING SERVICES 61 

DIGITAL DYNAMICS 31 

DURANI) COMMUNICATIONS 68. IBC 

ESOFT, INC 24,25 

EXCALIBUR 2 

EXEC PC 19 

GALACTTCOMM, INC , IPC. 1 

CAKI.igt K GRAPHICS 53 

I N F( il.INk 28 

LIVEWIRE 61 

M ICINTOSH ONLINE to 

MATRIX 28 

MEDIA HOUSE 45 

MUSTANG SOFTWARE INC 18.34,35 

NEXT GENERATION 44 

MTK LOG UBS 30 

ODYSSEY 66 

ONLINE COMMl NICATIONS 58 

ON-LINE SERVICES 51 

PICS ONLINE 58 

PIER EXCHANGE 52 

PLANET SYSTEMS 59 

QMODEMPRO 9 

It! STY-N-EDIE'S BBS I. 19 

SI lit RBAN SOFTWARE 30 

TESSIER TECHNOLOGIES 21 

TM PUBLISHING 17. 20 

TRADERS CONNECTION 33 

UNCLE HANK'S NEWSLETTER 44 

US NET 20 

USROBOTICS 5 

Mlll'l VLCOMTECH 63 





Comparing Procomm Plus to WinComm PRO? 
Just make sure you're comfortable with your decision. 



NOW 



O C I. ■ I N A 

INTERNET 

MESSENGER 



Introducing Delrina WinComm PRO 1 1.1. It's the first 
truly powerful communications software that makes 
going on-line a pleasure. Instead of a pain. 

As you'd expect, you get all major protocols, all 
popular terminal emulations, built-in script recording, 
a GIF Viewer to display graphics 
images, and a lot more. What 
you might not expect is to get 
them in a clean, crisp interface 
that's not only organized, it's fast, friendly and intuitive. 
And remarkably easy to use. 

But you also get features you won't find in Procomm 
Plus. Like a customizable icon-based phonebook. An 
integrated Backscroll Buffer with split screen capabilities. 
COM port sharing with WinFax PRO. And to help 
you sleep better, automatic virus 
detection as you download files. 







E ! 2 1 i 1 .— 1 "- 1 — — i •2- ; - 




.9.. A. 


£ A 


- » 


■ •■ j | «• lil,"." * ilsj'l 









December l 1 *^ 




There's even Delrina 
Internet Messenger;" 
the easiest way ever 
to send, receive and 
manage e-mail on 
the Internet. 

Best ol all, you can 
get WinComm PRO 
in the Delrina 
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Two best-of-breed products for one low price. . 

Call for information. Better yet, m 

DelrinM, 

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With WinComm PRO, all the most popular 
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see your dealer and take home 
Delrina WinComm PRO today. 
You'll rest better tonight. 



DeHno, WinComm PRO, Delrina Ink-met Messenger, Communications Suite and 
WinFax I'RO are trademarks of Delrina Corporation or its affiliated companies. 
I'KOCOMM I'l.USis a reentered trademark of IOTAS! OKM TECHNOLOGIES, INC. 
O 1W4 Delrina (Canada) Corpora I ion. All riRhts reserved. 



FEATURES 

FLEXIBLE USER INTERFACE 

3 Complete flexibility in design of data-entry, 
searching, browsing and detailed viewing 

2 ANSI, RIPscrip & WIP graphics protocol support 
for all database functions (DOS & Windows 
Access) 

K Complete entry screen validation via pick lists 

■ Easily jumps from browse to detail viewing 

PHOTOGRAPHS IN SECONDS 

- Support for the following image formats: JPG, 
CMP, PCX, BMP, TIF, TCA and GIF 

RELIABLE MULTI-USER CAPABILITIES 

■ Support for multiple users running separate 
copies of DC Genesys on the same computer 
(ie: DesQView) or on separate computers on a 
LAN network 

2 Seamless sharing of data with concurrent dBase/ 
FoxPro applications on the same LAN 



U1MI 



(M'aiIJJ 




o 



WIP Main Menu 

create beautiful native 
Windows menus with sound, 
text, icons and compressed 
images for users to view 
Notepad 

after creating menus in ANSI, 
RIP or WIP, create an applica- 
tion in CenScript to link menus 
with the Genesys Database 



Q DC Compress 

^ DC Compress for Windows can 
compress TIF, TCA, BMP, PCX 
and GIF images to CMP or IPC 

fi\ Detailed Output 

^^ users will see online 24-bit 
color WIP menus 

Q WIP Navigator 

'■' displays the status of your 
current online WIP session 



DC GENESIS vi.i 



Online Multimedia 
Databases 

Imagine creating a beautiful 24-hir color multimedia database that will run with any 
BBS. DC Genesys' allows everyone to easily develop robust graphical online informational 
applications and services. Durand Communications Network (DCN) specializes in 
providing interactive software tor the online industry that is affordable, easy-to-configure 
and easy-to-use. DC Genesys comes with Contact Phonebook . a turn-key photographic 
directory application. Additional turn-key applications include: Product Catalog ", Auto 
Seller'", Residential Real Esrate"' and Match Maker' "( dating service). With DCN's all 
new Windows Interface Prorocof "(WIP), created with the DC Interface Builder" , your 
end-users will he able to access your database with a true all Windows interlace. Your 
applications can have embedded compressed graphics, text tiles, -ound files and mote. 
DC Genesys can be accessed through a royalty-free terminal program for DOS and 
Windows (Macintosh coming soon). 




DURAND COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK 



ONLINE SOLUTIONS 



147 Castilian Drive, Santa Barbara, CA 93117 
Sales: (805) 961.8700 / Fax: (805) 961.8701 / Demo BBS: (805) 961.8710 (BNl) 



FTUEX BBS vl. 



A True Windows 
Client/Server BBS 

FILEX BBS™ is the first fully client/server, all Windows', multi-user BBS. Using 
FILEX technology, Durand Communications Network (DCN) has created the 
most powerful BBS platform on the market. F/LEX BBS is a collection of easy- 
to-use gTOUpware productivity products: E-Mail, Messaging, File Library (all with 
spell checker), Chat, Accounting, Security and W1P Compatibility. WIT 
(Windows Interface Protocol) allows your end-users to access your system with 
a true Windows interface and allows you to create menus with embedded graphics, 
text and sound files. Now, everyone can easily develop their own online 
informational services. Choose either F/LEX vl.O single line, Pro-4 or Pro-8 
(simultaneous modem lines) along with FILEX BBS, and you'll have a complete, 
comprehensive and cost effective interactive BBS. 






FEATURES 

■ Completely Client/Server 

■ True Windows Graphical Interface 

■ Multinode Support 

(up to 8 lines per node) 

■ Customizable Dynamic Menuing System 

■ Compressed Image Viewing 
(CMP, JPG, GIF, BMP, PCX, TIF, TGA) 

■ MDB Compatible Audit Trail 

■ Network Compatibility 

I Complete Sysop Defined Security for Every Feature 
I Multinode Chat with User Defined Macros 
I Royalty-Free Distribution of Client Software 
I DigiBoard Support 



© 



WIP Main Menu 

create beautiful native 
Windows menus with sound, 
text, icons and compressed 
images for users to view 
Company Identity 
example of WIP image 
capabilities to showcase 
company products 
Application Icons 
MP buttons with Windows leans 

©Messages 
post bulletins and respond to 
message threads with spell 
checking capability 



® 



© 



© 



WIP Navigator 

indicates WIP menu status 
Status Bar 

snows status of online session 
and indicates new mail 

Chat 

live teleconferencing with 

other members currently 

online 

Chat Forum 

choose from multiple forums 

the one you wish to join 

Write Mail 

write E-Mail with attatched 

images 




B6SA1094 u«J— 
) 1994 DC Genesys. WIP, fliflrOBS, anl all OCprorajd names are Iradama.Ks ol Durand Communications Network, Inc. AH referenced trademaiks and copyrights are me property ol Iheir icspecine owners. 



NEW PCBoard Version 15.2 offers Internet Gateway, Full Credit Accounting, 

Windows E-mail, dBASE File Access, Internal QWK, FIDO Mailer and more sensational 

benefits, all as "standard equipment" the other guys make you pay through the 

nose for, or don't even offer... And now you can try PCBoard for FREE 




7 promised to offer 
the best value in Host 
hi/ormation Systems 
Software, and our new 
VCRogrd Version IS. J 
delivers big time, with at 
least 8 FRlili, essential 
operating junction) the 
competition charges you 
for or daesii 1 even bare! " 

Steve /dingier, 
Vl'ICencral Manager 
Clark Development Co. 



By Jim A\ krnmm 

Why is PCBoard is the most widely used RBS 
software on tilt market today... used hv 23 
of the top 100 boards, including Software 
Creations, voted top BBS the last two years... and the 
only commercial BBS software ever, to win PC 
Magazine's prestigious... Editor's Choice Award! 

The reason is unmatched flexibility and adaptability. 

And now, with the release of the new 1 5.2 version, 
PCBoard is such a superior value, vou can classify ir in a 
league of its own. 

You g et more connectivity , accntuitahiliiy , and ease- 
ot-use . because PCBoard gives you more standard func- 
tions rhan anyone else. The new 1 5.2 dramatically 
increases your sysrem capabilities, and reduces vour need 
for costly add-ons. 

As a result, you can use PCBoard regardless of die 
size of your board, and regardless of growth or other 
changes that may take place in the services vou ofter, the 
hardware you run or custom add-ons vou employ. 

Who wouldn't want these 

8 essentials the competition considers 

options you must buy 

IWhy should you be charged exrra for such an essen- 
tial function as an Internet Garewav? You shouldn't! 
So, it's parr ot rhc standard package automatically built- 
in to PCBoard 15.2. Most other BBS manufacturers 
charge you for it. . . some charge more than their regular, 
stambiril package. 

2 Credit Accounting.. . surely rhe ultimate essential. 
PCBoard doesn't make you pay extra for things vtm 
must have. With the new Credit Accounting function, 
you can charge or reward the user (or each activity and 
decide the charges tor each : Operate on pre-pay or pay- 
as-you-go terms : Track in any kind ol local currency 
you choose, or as credit u nits. And set your own peak 
times, including holidays. Again, maximum flexibility! 

3 Everyone on your network can now easily use the 
new, fully integrated Windows E-Mail application, 
PCBMail. No gateway needed because PCBMail uses 



the PCBoard configuration and data files directly. 

4 You won't need a costly front end to add Pid o 
access to your board . It's already part of PCBoard 
15.2. Out of the box, your users can do the "l-'ido 
thing " right Scorn your PCBoard message bases. 

5 Built-in QWK makes you popular with your users. 
And 1 5.2's QWK now includes Net Status and File 
attachments. What a time and money-saver! 

6 Now, unleash the power of dBASE 111 and 
Database Access, with on-line applications created 
with the award winning PCBoard Programming 
Language (PPLQ. 



7 



Your BBS can truly 



gfi 



rldwidi 



with Multi-lingual capabilities. 
PCBoard I \2 gives them to you. includ- 
ing support lor 2 byte and reverse 
printing international character set. 

811 you're read)' lor RIPscrip 
Graphics, registered PCBoard 
customers download PCBoard's 
RIPKit i-RF.F. , so your remote callers 
can choose between ANSI. ASCII and 
RIP, on your BBS. This out-of-tlv- 
box capability presents the caller with a true 
(rl 1 interlace, complete with graphics, icons 
and mouseahle point-and-cltck menus. Once 
again, maximum flexibility and adaptability for vou 
and your users. 



Maybe that's why PCBoard has more installations than 
any other BBS system software. 

Who else gives you FREE Upgrades for 

a year... FREE telephone voice support 

for 12 months... FREE BBS support for 

life... and instantly installs as an 

upgrade from your FREE demo 

NOBODY does it all... and only PCBoard installs as 
an upgrade from your demo, Just imagine the time 
and headache you'll save , not having to set your entire 
system up mice! Once vou try 
our demo , give it a complete 
shakedown , and decide 
PCBoard is for von , simply 
install ynur full prog ram 
upgrade and instantly he oper- 
ating without skipping a beat. 

And don't forget. . . from 
the time you get your demo , 
we're behind vou all the wav. 
[ ^g Customers get anv improve- 

"-'" - ments we make — FREE for a 

full year. Need tech support: 
Our "live-on-the-phone" sup- 
■< — port Stat! talks you through vour 

questions. It's FREE! And tor as long 
as you're a PCBoard sysop, you can count 
nil FREE online supporr through our Salt Air BBS. 




W; 



But wait... there's more 

e've only scratched the surface. There", literally 
not enough space to cover it all here. 



Like... you can use the same newsgroup names as the 
Internet on PCBoard because 15.2 supports conference 
names tip to 6(1 characters long, 

Save amazing amounts of time with our new, 
Automated, Rules-based File Maintenance Utility. 
Plus... local logins, 19 FREE PCBoard utilities, and 
even FREE support for Multil'ort hardware, all "stan- 
dard equipment" on PCBoard version 15.2. 

How can they do all that... 
and without raising the price to boot 

F)/"" 1 T) oard was designed with an open architecture, 

A vj LJio flexibility, adaptability, reliability and sta- 
bility were built-in at the start. That's why PCBoard can 
otler all of this functionality ... all of this power ,. . all of 
this value ! 

And even with all of these new benefits, the price 
hasn't changed. Begin as small as one or 2 lines for 
S 1 5(1. DO. and grow all you want. Only PCBoard supports 
up to 1,000+ dial -in or local access nodes. 

It s the perfect solution for the I -line hobbyist to the 
Fortune 500 international corporare E-mail application. 



<0 Copyngh! Clark Oflvelopmont Company, Inc 1994 All Rrarili Resoiv«d PCBoard is a myiBlered tlflaomiMX and F J PLC and PCMal 



Get your FREE DEMO and a lot more 

G el your FREE Demo online 24 hours a day. The phone 
number is 801 261-8976. Enler DEMO ACCOUNT as 
your login name to bypass the usual registration process and 
get online quickly . 

Ot call us at 800 356-1686 (or 801 261-1686) 

ond we'll ship you o complete inlroductory kit, including 
FREE demo, comprehensive brochure, & special new.. . 
Guide To Selling Up Your Own BBS. 

When you actually order by phone, and give the code 
from this od, we'll also include a special 4 (ape audio pro- 
gtom from two nalionally renowned direct marketers, to 
help you quickly and easily spread the word about your BBS. 
whether you're a hobbyist, ot you see cyberspace dollar 
signs in your Future. It's a S47.77 value. 

Naturally, our program is guaranteed for a full month. 
If you buy and then decide PCBoard isn't for you within 30 
days, simply return the package for a complete refund. But 
keep the 4-lnpe audio ptogram as a FREE gift from us, just 
for trying PCBoard. 

^PCBoard 

ClarH Development Company, Inc. 

3950 South 7O0 East. Suite 303, Murray, Ulan &3107-2173 
Tel 80V2G1.1&B6 • Fax. &01 261 S38? • BBS 001-S61.B976 
E-Mail: sales iSciaihdev.com » lech support <wciarkde*j corn 

For online demo users or new rag is tra I ions: Baud rales up to 
28.S0Q bps, no parity. B daia bits. 1 stop nil. ASCII. ANSI, and RIP 
Graphics are all supported. Well even let you download a copy of 

L RIP Term, it you aren'l already compatible r>r\r%c nr*o- 

t vUb: B taal | 

ie trntfomaihg ot dark Davcloprnonl Company Inc AH olhoi brand and product names ate haefcmarks ol Tti&rc reapeclivo companies