How to operate a BBS


Assuming you have followed the instructions in setup.txt,
you now need to operate the system on a daily basis. The
first thing you will want to do is read and write messages.

If you are operating a "pdnet cafe" (similar to an
"internet cafe" except that it is just to read pdnet
echo messages), you will have multiple people using the
one system. So you will need to edit msged.cfg and comment
out the current name (with a ";") and uncomment (or for a
new user, add a new line) the name of the new customer.

Start msged by typing "msged". Cursor down to choose the
echo you wish to read/write. Cursor left/right navigates
through the messages. Also alt-L and cursor up/down and
pressing enter is an alternative way to navigate. Alt-E
allows you to enter a new message. Type in something for
"to" and hit enter, then something for "subject" and hit
enter and then hit enter again when the "flags" pop up,
then type your message, then alt-S to save. You probably
won't see your new message until you cursor right.

When replying to another message you normally want to
go alt-Q. Pressing ESC multiple times will exit msged.
alt-C can be used to change a message when you realize
you made a mistake, but before the message has been
exported with "dotb".

Other msged commands can be found in msged.doc.

Whenever you have reached a point that you are ready to
send messages to another system, type in "dotb". Don't
worry if it says "0 messages". Go to the outbound directory
by going "cd outbound" and then "dir" to get a list of
systems messages have been exported to. The naming convention
is hex, so if the address you are exporting to is 380:123/570
then the filename will just be the "123" and "570" converted
to hex, which is 007B and 023A, so the filename is 007B023A.OUT.

You can copy this file onto a USB stick. That would normally
be your D drive, so you go "copy 007b023a.out d:007b023a.out".
If the copy is successful you should delete the original by
going "del 007b023a.out". Or you could keep it for safekeeping
by renaming instead, with "del old.dat" and
"ren 007b023a.out old.dat". Go back to the bbs directory by
typing "cd ..".

When you receive a packet from someone else, if e.g. your
address is 380:1/7 your packets will always be called
00010007.out (in hex again) and they need to be renamed to
.pkt to be processed, so you would use a command like:
"copy d:00010007.out 00010007.pkt" and then you can run
"dotb". The pkt will automatically be deleted, but you will
need to manually delete the copy on the USB stick, with
"del d:00010007.out".
