WWIV v4.11 ReadMe file Copyright (c) 1988 by Wayne Bell READ.ME file: This contains general comments on WWIV v4.10. If you have a question not addressed in the other documentation, read through this for more information (even if you've already read it). This file also describes registration procedures. Accompanying documentation: README.411 - Describes new features to WWIV v4.11 (from v4.10) WWIVINIT.DOC - Initialization/configuration documentation WWIVSYSP.DOC - Sysop documentation WWIVMODM.DOC - Documentation on setting up your modem WWIVUSER.DOC - User/Sysop documentation The accompanying documentation files are all written by William Daystrom. This READ.ME file is written by Wayne Bell. ************************************************************************* ORDERING INFORMATION AND REGISTRATION: If you have decided to use WWIV for your Bulletin Board System software, you must register it with the author. Registration is $50 per copy of WWIV being used. Registration is necessary if you have found WWIV to suit your needs and plan to keep using it. Unlike most BBS's, the source code to WWIV is available to registered users. WWIV is written in Turbo C (v1.5 or v2.0), and is about 25,000 lines long. The source code is available to registered users ONLY, and may not be given out. Furthermore, modified versions of WWIV may NOT be distributed. The source code to the init.exe program is not available. The $50 registration must be in U.S. currency (check or money order) and payable to Wayne Bell. It should be sent to: Wayne Bell 904 Silver Spur Road #636 Rolling Hills Estates, CA 90274 Registering WWIV will get you a WWIV registration number, plus access to download the WWIV source code from my BBS (if you have an account there). Registered users of WWIV may also have the source code to WWIV sent to them on a floppy disk. The cost is $5 per disk. Thus, if you would like to register WWIV, and receive a copy of the current version of the source code on a disk, you would send $50 + $5 = $55. In a letter accompanying your registration, be sure to indicate: 1. The address where you would like any correspondences (or diskettes) mailed. 2. Exactly what you expect (ie, "I would like a copy of the source code sent to me on a disk", or that you have enclosed an additional $5 (=$60) for a copy of the next version on a disk). REMEMBER: WWIV, either source or compiled, takes up a whole 360k floppy. If you would like me to send you any combination of the source, compiled version, and networking software, each requires a separate 360k floppy (ie, $5 per item). However, if you have a 1.2 meg floppy drive, all of the above will fit. The cost per 1.2 meg floppy sent is still $5, and can contain the source, compiled ver, and networking programs. BE SURE to say you can read a 1.2 meg floppy if you can. ************************************************************************* SETTING UP THE BBS: Setup and initialization instructions are described in the file 'WWIVINIT.DOC'. This will allow you to get your system up and running. If you are having problems with your modem (ie, not hanging up on users, not accepting callers correctly), read 'WWIVMODM.DOC'. After you have your system running, read 'WWIVSYSP.DOC' for information on sysop functions you may need in operating your BBS. In setting up WWIV v4, you should read through all the documentation before beginning. If, after you have read through the documentation, you are having problems understanding something, don't worry about it. Just go ahead and set up the BBS anyway. Most likely, along the way, you will be able to figure out what you were having problems with. If, after playing around with the BBS, and reading through the documentation for any clue (again), and asking anyone you might know for help, you can contact a WWIV Support BBS for help. There are a number of support systems located throughout the United States. The file, SUPPORT.LST, lists the current support bulletin boards. Sysops of those systems will help you solve whatever problems you are encountering, and will also acquaint you with WWIVnet, the network of WWIV bulletin boards which exchange email and messages across the country. Here is a summary of WWIV support BBS's: Support Boards in WWIVnet: Phone Number Name of BBS WWIVnet MB BPS Sysop ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 213-470-6869 Black Dragon Enterprises @2380 80 2400 Black Dragon 314-434-3470 The B.S. Box @3655 85 14.4 Todd Graham 314-537-9238 The Banana Republic @3653 120 2400 Dr. Spine 314-644-5777 The Fellowship @3662 122 2400 Tolkien 318-448-0411 Meltdown Mansion @3850-AC 50 2400 Firestorm 512-631-5841 The Dragon's Den @5252 120 19.2 Filo 618-277-8502 The Nth Dimension @6851-AC 110 2400 Brain McDaniel 704-554-1496 The Funny Farm (East) @7400-AC 32 2400 Benny Hill 707-586-9314 Data Direct BBS @7700-AC 150 2400 Mark Halverson 716-433-7904 Nite Flight BBS @7650-AC 65 2400 Ghost Rider 717-868-5433 The Party Line @7750-AC 320 19.2 Jami Chism 805-255-2850 Sherwood Forest @8500-AC 80 2400 Robin Hood 806-795-0509 The Crystal Palace @8603 42 2400 Mr. X 812-877-4416 Strongpoint Alpha @8250-AC 80 9600 Elihu Feustel 812-945-6790 The Pirate's Cove @8260 42 2400 Breaker 919-493-1058 Social Graces BBS @9954-AC 130 2400 John Hardman Support Boards not in WWIVnet: Phone Number Name of BBS MB BPS Sysop ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 305-978-0556 The Station Tender BBS 81 2400 Inferno 314-343-1380 Third Stage 135 2400 Ebony Eyes 509-244-2872 The Spokane Hints 60 2400 Scott Lockwood 714-923-8247 The South Ontario BBS 60 2400 John Scheuplein 714-949-8976 Softworks BBS 65 9600 Bloose 812-877-3488 The Kingdom of Melnibone 30 2400 Lord Elric 504-364-1207 The Private Link 80 2400 Rick Dennis If you have a problem which is of a nature that it cannot be handled by a support sysop, you can attempt to contact Wayne Bell, the author of WWIV. You have three avenues open to you: 1. If you call a WWIVnet bulletin board, you can send mail to him by addressing the email to 1@1. 2. Call his bulletin board to leave feedback. The number is 213-208-6689, and it supports 300/1200/2400 bps, 24 hours per day. 3. If either of those choices is prohibitive (financially or otherwise), you can send a letter to him. The address is: Wayne Bell 904 Silver Spur Road #636 Rolling Hills Estates, CA 90274 Sending mail to him in this manner is of course the slowest, for obvious reasons. Therefore, if you can possibly send mail through WWIVnet or call his BBS, do it. Wayne Bell does not give out his voice telephone number (and it is unlisted), so you won't be able to contact him voice by that route. Whether you write to Wayne or contact a WWIV support sysop, if you are having problems, there are some things you NEED to indicate. Just saying, "The BBS won't answer the phone" doesn't help anyone figure out what type of difficulty you may be having. THIS IS IMPORTANT. Most of the people asking for help don't give enough information to figure out what the problem is, and it takes a few emails back and forth to extract the necessary information. Be sure to indicate what type of computer you are using, and as much info about your modem as possible (if your problem deals with the modem). Make sure you indicate what exactly the system did wrong, and say what you expected it to do. If you can, tell what the system printed on the screen around the problem area. ************************************************************************* UPGRADING FROM VERSIONS OF WWIV v4 before v4.10: Run the INIT program once, if you have a previous version of WWIV already installed. This will create a few new data files that are required. You will notice that this version of WWIV has an option for "WWIV Registration Number". This is a number given to all registered users of WWIV, indicating that they have registered. If you have registered WWIV before, but don't know your registration number, contact me through one of the channels listed above and ask me what your registration number is. You must be sure to tell me your full name and address, as well as the approximate date (month/year) that you registered WWIV. ************************************************************************* THANKS TO: Craig Arnush (1@6950) - bugged me enough so that I compiled WWIV with all the crazy optimizations on. Conceived of & wrote the "extended log". Went throgh some of the older source code in WWIV & optimized it a bit for speed & size (and yes, the BBS IS shorter now, due both to his optimizations and the compiler optimizations). Dash -Riprock - Wrote the quicksort routine which is now used to sort the file section. A bit faster. Also wrote the two-way chat routine. Doug Fields - various miscellanous things, like supporting logon.ans, the menu????.ANS. Also for finally figuring out how to type-cast functions so that there is no more warning when compiling utility.c. Eric Golden - wrote the new topscreen, set up the WWIV support BBS network, and bugged me about thousands of little things I needed to change. Joseph Rybaczek - Kept the WWIV Support Network going. And, finally... William Daystrom - for writing up some "real" documentation, as opposed to what I had before. If he hadn't decided to "just do it", then there still wouldn't be any decent documentation. I'd like to especially thank him for making some last-minute changes (at my request) while about to move. Which brings me to the last point, acknowledgements for the documentation (written by William Daystrom): ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank Wayne Bell for creating and supporting WWIV, and for co-operating with this project, and Michael Coyne for writing a user help document which saved uncounted hours in User Guide preparation. DEDICATION The complete WWIV documentation, as released by White Star Software, is dedicated to Lora Ruffner. She provided encouragement and support at a time when I needed it most, and I can safely say that without her persistent inspiration and confidence in my abilities, you would still be reading the old docs; and so, the credit for the release of this documentation belongs as much to her as it does to me.