TSNT14:
SFOS.BAT:c:\path\tsnt14.com
UFOS.BAT:c:\path\tsnt14.com /u
(if running Win2000 change to //u)
All of
the Above fossil drivers can be found at the BBS
Archives Fossil Drivers section.
There
are a few poorly written door games which do not
bother to close the fossil driver after they have
exited. While this would not be a problem for a
DOS based BBS program, it's a big problem under
a Win32 BBS because this prevents the fossil driver
from unloading itself, which in turn prevents EleBBS
from regaining control of the com port after the
door has exited. The result is that EleBBS drops
carrier on the user and exits. If you encounter
this problem with some doors, the solution is to
add another line to your UFOS.BAT which runs a small
program to manually close the fossil port before
unloading the fossil. This can be done by adding
the following line to your UFOS.BAT before the fossil
is uninstalled:
c:\path\closefos.exe
%COMPORT%
The CLOSEFOS
program is available Here
Which fossil
drivers work the best under Windows.
If you
are running Windows NT or (or Windows 2000) then
using either TSNT14 or NTFOSS will give much better
performance then the DOS based fossil drivers. NTFOSS
version 1.00 has a bug which prevents it from working
on ports higher then COM9, but the author has a
newer unreleased version available by request to
fix this.
I can
not reccomend Winfossil/NT as it's very unstable
and unregisterable.
If you
are using Windows 95/98 (or Windows Millenium) then
your choices are to either use a DOS based fossil
driver such as ADF, BNU, or X00, or to use Winfossil/9x.
Winfossil/9x (version 1.12.4) has the advantage
of being able to enable itself only when its needed,
and turns itself off afterwards automaticly. But
it is also a bit unstable and unregisterable.
Of the
DOS based fossil drivers, ADF was found to be the
fastest one when running under Windows, with BNU
performing just slightly slower. X00 is considerably
slower under Windows, even though it outperforms
the others under DesqView (A DOS based multitasker
which was popular a decade ago).
ADF, BNU and X00 are all freeware.
Keep
in mind that DOS based fossil drivers will usually
*NOT* work with Win32 specific com ports such as
Winmodems or a Virtual Modem. The exception to this rule
is that under NT or Win2000 you can use COM1 through
COM4 as NT emulates a UART for these ports only,
and under Win95/98/ME you can install a third party
UART emulator called TurboCom which emulates a UART
for any Win32 com port.
How to install a Doors under EleBBS/Win32
Usually
a doors configuration also asks for the "locked
baud rate". Possilble values are usually 19200,
38400, 5600, or 115200 bps. I suggest you choose
115200 and also set the Virtual Modem ports to the same speed
as well, though generally the speed you tell a fossil
driven door to use is ignored anyways.
Here's
what you do to add a door to EleBBS:
Run "ELCONFIG
-M" to bring up the menu editor.
Select the language to use (if you have multiple
languages defined).
Select the menu to edit.
Press INS to add a new menu item to this menu.
Press Enter to edit that menu item.
Set Action to type 7 (execute sub-program) under
External doors.
Set Display to whatever text the user should see
on this menu
(unless you use an external ansi menu screen, then
put a semicolen).
The OptData line tells EleBBS what program or batch
file to execute.
It supports several *Macros such as:
*A Writes users handle to DORINFO1.DEF drop file.
*B Passes the baud rate of the connection 0=local.
*C The path\filename of the command interpreter
i.e.: c:\windows\command.com
*F Users first name
*G Users ANSI settings: ON or OFF
*H Leave the fossil hot (DOS version only)
*L Users Last Name
*M Tells EleBBS to shell out of memory before
running (only used in DOS versions of EleBBS)
*N Node Number, as specified with the -N parameter
when ELEBBS.EXE was run.
*O Overrides the users baud rate with hardcoded
value, i.e.: *O19200
*P Communications (COM) port being used, 1-255.
*R Users Record number in the user file.
*S Generates a custom exit file. See RA.DOC.
*T Time Remaining in minutes for this call.
*U Passes a 10 char useron status. ie: *UDwnloading
*V Avoids clearing the screen first, and does
not send a "wait... loading." prompt.
*W the comporthandle, used by Ele/Win32 for Win32 doors.
*X causes a TAGLIST.RA list of tagged files to be
written to the current (nodes) directory.
When used from ELEMGR.EXE, *X causes @ to become
the DOS style 8.3 pathname instead of long form.
*Z Avoids running SFOS.BAT and UFOS.BAT before
and after the specified command line. Adding this
to non-fossil applications will improve load time.
*! Stops the system timer for the duration of
the shell, so the users time is not reduced.
*# Turns the "Wants Chat" indicator off afterwards.
*0 The path to the currently selected file area.
*1 The path to the currently selected message area.
Before EleBBS
runs a door, it creates several drop files in the
current (nodes)
directory. They are: DORINFO1.DEF,
DOOR.SYS, and EXITINFO.BBS.
The first 2 are text files, while exitinfo.bbs is
a binary file that is read back
by EleBBS after the door returns. These drop files
pass information to the
door such as the users name/handle, number of minutes
remaining, graphic
mode, ect.
Some
doors need to be run from the current (nodes) directory
so that it can find these drop files, while other
doors need to be run from their own directory, and
have a path defined to the nodes directory in order
to read the drop files(s).
If a
door requires that it be run from its own directory,
then you must run it from a batch file that changes
to that directory before running the door's .exe
file.
If a
door requires that it be run from the current directory
instead, then no batch file is required.
To run
a batch file under Win9x, you must pass the name
of the command interpeter (usually named command.com)
on the Optdata line followed by a /c switch to keep
the command interpeter active, followed by the name
of the batch file to run. Since the *C macro is
the full path and filename of the command interpeter,
it would look like this:
Optdata: *C /c c:\path\to\doorgame.bat
This
is not required under Windows NT, Win2000, or XP,
which just needs:
Optdata: c:\path\to\doorgame.bat
Quite
often you need to pass a door game the node number
that the user is connected to, which is the *N macro.
This could look like:
Optdata: *C /c c:\path\to\doorgame.bat
*N
Many
sysops also include a *M macro in their Optdata
line, which tells the DOS version of EleBBS to swap
itself out of memory before running the door. This
is ignored in the Windows version of EleBBS.
Set Hotkey
to a letter or number that is used to activate the
door. All the other options in this menu can be
left as is. Press Esc to exit the menu, and answer
Yes to save changes.
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