UTILS\FIDOUSER.TXT ·
TXT ·
20.5 KB ·
1985-12-08 ·
from CompuLink-User-Group_Magazette_Vol-1-Issue-2_1985
Fido's Operating Manual T. Jennings 1 Nov 84 Page 45
Edited by Ben Baker
FidoBBS is a Bulletin Board system that takes full
advantage of MSDOS version 2. Most of the features were
modeled after the usual CBBS and RBBS software, since the
command system is so popular and familiar.
There are three help levels; the default for new
callers is NOVICE. This provides a small menu of commands,
and usually gives further description as commands are
executed.
REGULAR is the command letter prompts, minus the
full words, and does not tell you what command you have just
executed. Useful for after you understand the structure,
but have not memorized all the command mnemonics.
EXPERT is just a very short command prompt; there
are no menus or other things; prompts are very small and
fast. Once you are very familiar with Fido, this will make
using it very fast.
Regardless of help level, you can enter ? at almost
any point for a list of the options at that point.
From the Main Section, all of Fido's available
commands can be accessed. The actual commands are described
in detail below. Fido is arranged into three sections:
+-----------------------+ Change User name, etc
| | Bulletins, Questionaire,
| Main Section | Yell at Sysop, access to
| | other Sections.
+-----------------------+
| |
| |
| |
+------------------+ +-------------------+
| | | |
| Message Section | | File Section |
| | | |
+------------------+ +-------------------+
Read, enter, delete List, download,
messages, message upload files, change
areas, etc. file areas, etc.
COMMANDS
All commands in all areas are one letter, though
some require further arguments or options. Most command
allow entering the further arguments right after the command
key; if not, or if not supplied, each necessary component is
prompted for, usually with help available at each point.
For instance, to download a file you must enter the
D command, the download method (one of seven) then the
filename. If you entered D, then Fido would ask for the
download method. After that, it asks for the filename. Once
you become familiar with it, you can enter it all as:
D X FILENAME.EXE
All on one line, skipping the prompts. This works
for most commands.
All commands can be aborted with a Q or a blank
line.
All Sections
The following are commands that are available in all
Sections.
G -- GoodBye
Logoff the system, optionally leave a private
message to the sysop. If a message is left, it goes into the
special message area (in system area 0) that is accessable
only by the sysop. The usual message editor is available for
comments.
S -- Statistics
This command lists the time on the system, time
remaining, etc. Also, depending on the area, it will list
further information.
Files Area
Statistics also lists the free space left on the
default drive.
Message Area
Optionally lists messages to or from you.
FidoNet Area
As in Message areas, and also lists FidoNet
statistics.
Main Menu
This is the section you are in after signon, right
after the Bulletins and quotations. From here, the "system"
type commands are accessed, such as Change user settings,
etc. The commands accessible from here are described below.
M Message Section
F File Section
Y Yell at the Sysop
A Answer a Questionaire
B Get Bulletin again
E Get the Editorial
C Change User settings
S Statistics
U Display User List
G Goodbye, logoff
M -- Message-Area
Enter the message section. From there, the message
areas can be accessed.
F -- Files-Area
Similar to Message-Area, but where the upload and
download commands are.
A -- Answer-Questionaire
If there is a questionaire in the system, you get to
fill one out with this command. A questionaire is an text
pseudo-language file, described in the Questionaire section.
C -- Change User
A small sub-menu of commands to change various user
settings, such as signon name, password, screen dimensions,
etc.
U Users name
C City and State
P Password
W Screen Width
L Screen Length
H Help level
M "More?" on and off
T Tabs On and Off
N Nulls, 0 - 20
You can change your name, password, city and state,
and anything else at any time. (Unless the options were
removed by the sysop.)
NOTE: For security reasons, when your name is
changed, the entire users list is searched to make sure the
name is unique. This is to prevent having two or more people
with the same name.
The screen dimensions are used by the page pauser
("More?") and the message system. Messages are listed to fit
within the set screen boundaries, and message entry is done
via a word wrap editor. If "More?" is ON, then Fido will
pause after each screenful. All of the command prompts are
made to fit within this.
Help level is either NOVICE, REGULAR or EXPERT.
NOVICE is the default; it causes all prompts to be displayed
fully, and each command to be described with a one liner.
REGULAR is similar, but does not list the entire wordy
prompt. EXPERT is almost no prompt at all.
"More?" on and off controls whenther Fido asks
"More?" every screenful.
Tab expansion converts all tabs sent into spaces,
for those systems that cannot handle tabs.
Fido can be set to send nulls after each linefeed.
It defaults to 0 nulls.
B -- Bulletin
This just displays the signon bulletin, BULLETIN.BBS
again.
E -- Editorial
Similar to the Bulletin, (but displaying file
EDTORIAL.BBS) but not displayed automatically.
Y -- Yell at the Sysop
By yelling, the caller can attempt to contact the
sysop. It beeps for 30 seconds, and if the sysop does not
respond by then, displays "Sysop not available".
The sysop can chat with the user at any time.
U -- Users List
Lists the names of all current callers to the
system. Not very useful.
G -- Goodbye
Terminates the call. It is not really necessary;
however, callers seem to get upset when they cant figure out
how to log off, so there it is. (Its OK to just hang up.) It
also allows entering a private message to the sysop. After
(optionally) entering a message, it causes a disconnect,
exactly what would have happened if the caller just hung up.
The Message Section is accessed by the M command
from the Main Menu. All message commands are available here.
Return to the Main Menu is via the M command.
M Return to Main Section G Goodbye
A Area-Change R Read messages
E Enter a Message K Kill a message
L List Messages S Statistics
I Search for an item
A -- Area-Change
Change the current message area. If an area number
is entered after the A, that area is selected if available.
If not, a list of areas is displayed, from which you may
choose one.
If a new area is selected, then the messages there
are counted (why it says "Wait ...") and if it's the first
time you've selected that area, asks if you want to list
mail addressed to you. Nothing happens if you select the
same area, or blank line or Q.
The mail search searches all messages, newest to
oldest, and lists: New message to you (ones you haven't
read yet) Old messages to you (ones you have read) and
messages you have entered. Typing Control-C or Control-K
aborts the search. If there are lots of messages in any of
the above catagories, it reminds you to Kill some.
The message area numbers displayed may not be
sequential. Each area has an associated privelege level and
if the your privelege is not high enough, that area will not
be displayed nor available.
L -- List Messages
Only the message headers are listed. A starting
number is requested; this can be:
An ordinary number
A number followed by + or -
- itself.
If just a number is entered, messages are listed
starting at that one, towards the highest message.
A number followed by + or - controls the direction
messages are listed in. + is redundant. - means list
backwards; 100- then means start listing at 100, list
towards 1.
- means list from the highest message towards the
lowest. This is the most useful, and for some reason the
least used. If you have called before, this is the easiest
way to see any new messages.
R -- Read
Actually a small menu by itself. From here messages
can be read, entered, killed, replied to, etc. See the
descriptions of the Kill and Enter commands for details on
those.
Entering a message number reads that message. N
(Next) reads the next highest message, and P (Previous)
reads the next lowest message. Hitting CR repeats the
previous N or P; if neither was used, then it defaults to P.
* is a special message number. It means the highest
message number.
+ and - are little used keys, but one of the most
powerful message features. Messages can have, and be,
replies. (See R command below.) Messages created with R are
linked to other messages. For example, a message about an
item for sale may have a reply. If you come across the
original for sale message, it will say "See also #nnn, use +
key" if it has a reply. Entering a + at this point will take
you directly to that message. This message will say "Reply
to #xxx, use - key". Entering - will take you back to the
original message.
There is no limit to the number of messages that can
be linked this way. Further replies are added to the end,
and if one in the middle (or either end) is Killed, the
string of messages is "patched" to maintain continuity.
This is my favorite feature (dreamed up by John
Madill) and I am slightly annoyed that no one uses it.
R Replies to the current message. It acts basically
like Entering a message, but automatically fills in the
"To:" field, and links it into the original message.
You can enter "RK" to reply to a message, and kill
it afterwards. This is extremely useful while reading your
mail.
If you are replying to a message in the Mail area,
it also fills in the destination system. The message will be
mailed out that night.
Please read about Entering messages, further below.
E enters a message in the normal fashion.
E -- Enter a Message
You fill in the To:, From:, Subject: fields, etc,
then the main body of the message. After terminating the
message, commands can be used to save, abort, edit, etc.
If the area is a FidoNet Mail area, then in order to
enter a message, you must select the system to send it to at
the prompt. If you do not have enough credit, then Fido will
not let you send a message to that system. If you do, then
Fido will deduct the cost of the message from your credit.
Message text entry is done with a word wrap editor.
If the screen width is set properly (C command in Main Menu)
then this is about as close to a full screen editor as you
can get through a modem (on current DOSs anyways.)
Like WordStar, text is entered continuously without
carriage returns. Words that would go past the left edge are
wrapped to the next line. Carriage returns can be used to
form paragraphs as in WordStar. When entered this way,
later reading of a message will conform to the callers
screen width.
At the Enter Message command prompt, the options
are:
C for continue. Add more to the message, adding to
the end.
L lists the message so far.
T lets you change the To: field.
J lets you change the subject.
D Deletes a line
I Inserts a line
E edit a line. You enter the line number, then you
are prompted for the Old string (what to change) then the
New string (what to change it to). Both old string and new
string can be anything that you can enter, except a carriage
return.
NOTE: it is possible to edit a line such that it
goes beyond the edge of the screen. It will list correctly
after it is saved.
A aborts the message. You will be asked yes or no.
S saves the message. The message is written out to
disk, and the highest message number, etc is updated.
K -- Kill
Deletes the message. Will not let you delete
messages that are not To: you or From: you, unless you are
the sysop. If the message you killed was mail to a remote
system and it was not sent yet, you get your credit back;
you are not charged for that message.
I -- Index
Terrible name, but too bad. Prompts you for a
string. It then searches all messages, newest to oldest for
the thing you enter. It looks in the "To:", "From:", or
"Subject:" fields. If the string you enter is in any one of
those parts of the message, the header of the message will
be listed.
Typing Control-C aborts the search. An insensitive
sliding match is done; ON matches TONY or PITON, etc. Each
message header matching is listed, then a list of all
matching message numbers.
? will match any character. For example, if there
are the following messages in the system:
#100 From: Joe Bungpop To: All Subject: Musical Instruments
#102 From: No Body To: W.S. Burroughs Subject: Guns
#200 From: All To: Board Subject: Music
If you enter MUS, it will list messages 100 and
200, as MUS is contained in the Subject: fields of both. If
you had entered BU, then it would list messages 100 and 102,
as it would match "Bungpop" and Burroughs". Entering B??R
would cause #102 and #200 to be listed, as B??R matches
BURRoughs and BOARd.
The file Section contain all the file oriented
commands for downloading, uploading, etc. The M command
returns to the Main Menu.
M Main Section
G Goodbye
A Area-Change
F List Files
L Locate specific Files
D Download
U Upload
R Raw-List
K Kill a file
T Type a file
A -- Area-Change
Similar to the Message Area-Change. If a valid area
number is entered, it is selected directly, otherwise a list
is displayed.
Like the message areas, there may be numbers missing
from the sequence. These are either blank paths or high
privelege areas.
L -- Locate
Given a file specifier (wildcards reccommended) it
searches through all file directories for the filename, and
lists all occurences of it. L;*.ASM lists all .ASM files in
all areas, etc. L;*.* lists all files everywhere.
This is not the general purpose list-files command.
F --- Files
Lists the files in the current directory. If no
specifier is given, it lists all files, otherwise only
matching ones. The size of the file and the description is
displayed after the filename.
If "MISSING" is displayed instead of the file size,
then the file is not there, even though it is listed.
T -- Type
Very simple. Displays an ASCII file on the screen.
It statistically checks the file to make sure it is a text After all files are uploaded, you are asked to
describe each one; this is added to the list of files. (You
may not be able to see the newly added files though.)
D -- Download
Again, pick the method and do it. Before the
download starts, Fido checks time limits and K byte limits,
and prevents too long downloads. Uploading will remove some
of the download limit.
Control characters are used by Fido for editing
command lines, pausing and aborting c Æ╚8&>p>q>8'┴├???????>pNü ǃ ƒε┬≥µ@┬Σ╩@╥╚╩▄Φ╥╞┬╚@┬▄╚@╨┬∞╩@Φ╨╩@µ┬┌╩@╩╠╠╩╞Φt@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@åHq>x2>8!┴├???????????????>q,ä$É╡,üë╜╔╤╠üà╣σ╤íÑ╣£Ç4(4(ÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇüésúôzN"|<p @"|B|L <p|≡|@|@`@<|sâå~~~~~~~| @`N|α$"||@||b[súKs½)qhPhQ╗C+qs{í½¢Ks9úC)╗{ô!╗ôük+¢¢;)+#Kú{æa3K#xhQ11(D°@ xä°Çÿ ä°î°┴)*@pN|@"|É|p @"|B|'âå~~~~~~~|&|`<@&|@$p can support at least backspace. It
supports:
^C, ^X, ^U, ^Y
Delete the entire line.
^R
Restore the previous line, from last use or
deletion. (Most useful.)
^S, ^G, ^H, DEL
Delete one character to the left.
^D
Restore one character.
ESC, CR, LF
Enter the line.
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