Alan Hess wrote in a message to Roy J. Tellason:
AH>> :Overnite
AH>> call overnite.bat
AH>> goto loop
AH>> :Makenl
AH>> call domakenl.bat
AH>> goto loop
 AH> These two above: Overnite) run my nightly dos bbs utilities
 AH> such as hlist, which creates my list of all files available
 AH> to callers, and Makenl) runs once a week to process my
 AH> nodelist segment (I'm a netmail hub.)
Yeah,  I have a bunch of stuff like that,  just got done listening to it 
thrash the drives in the background as I was reading mail...   :-)
AH>> :Squishmail
AH>> call runos2.cmd mail.cmd
AH>> goto loop
RJT> Invoking another instance of the command processor there in that 
RJT> middle line?
 AH> I believe it could be (heck, my expertise level is close to 
 AH> nil.  I just know it works.)  It's just starting another 
 AH> session  - I included the runos2 and rundos cmd files later in 
 AH> the post, as you probably saw.  They make use of OS/2's Start 
 AH> command.
Ok.
AH>> :F9_key
AH>> list2 newusers.txt
AH>> muep
RJT> A different user editor,  I guess.  I just use the one that's 
RJT> built-in,  does this one work okay with max 3.01?
 AH> Yes, it does.  I was just accustomed to an external user 
 AH> editor, as I think they make things like deleting and purging 
 AH> users easier, bu your mileage may wary.
Probably does,  since I'm not in the habit of deleting or purging users.  
Makes for rather an interesting list...   :-)
AH>> cd\nodes
AH>> bonk
AH>> goto loop
 AH> There's an OS/2 analog to Bonk, but I liked Bonk better.
What's the os/2 analog?  I would be interested in at least taking a look at 
it some time.
AH>> :F5_key
AH>> call runos2.cmd packbase.cmd
AH>> goto loop
 AH> Packbase.cmd runs Sqpackp.  I forgot to post that file. 
 AH> Here it is:    ----- packbase.cmd begins -----
 AH> D:
 AH> cd\squish
 AH> Sqpackp d:\max\area.dat
 AH> cd\max
 AH>    ----- packbase.cmd ends -----
Oh?  I didn't know you could fire it up that way,  I have a batch file that 
does it with a line in there for each directory.  Your way sure looks a lot 
simpler!  I forget if there's some reason I did it that way in the first 
place...
AH>> :F4_key   
AH>> i:
AH>> cd tcpip\bin
AH>> REM Dial Other Internet Providers
AH>> SLIPPM.EXE
AH>> goto loop
RJT> More details on this stuff would be welcomed.  One of the things 
RJT> I left out of my earlier post was GIGO and FX-UUCICO,  the 
RJT> latter of which might be a problem.  I have a dialup uucp 
RJT> connection for email.
 AH> The above allows me to use my bbs line to access my internet 
 AH> provider.  Slippm.exe is IBM's Dial Other Internet Providers 
 AH> program.  Normally, I use my voice line to access the net, but, 
 AH> during the day, I don't like to tie up the voice line (some 
 AH> people actually do call us .)  As the bbs is least busy 
 AH> during the day, I make use of the line for my own purposes.
That makes sense.  I also did that a bit,  but the other modem is only a 14.4 
Zoom,  too.  
 AH> I can't help you with e-mail - I get it via regular fidonet
 AH> modem call from an echo hub in my net.  I'm sure someone
 AH> else will step in to assist you with that.  I also don't run 
 AH> any doors, so that would also be a question for someone else. 
Ok.
AH>> :BBS_336
AH>> :BBS_312
AH>> :BBS_288
AH>> :BBS_264
AH>> :BBS_240
AH>> :BBS_216
AH>> :BBS_192
AH>> :BBS_168
AH>> :BBS_144
AH>> :BBS_120
AH>> :BBS_96
AH>> :BBS_72
AH>> :BBS_48
AH>> :BBS_24
AH>> :BBS_12
AH>> :BBS_3
AH>> goto Loop
RJT> Why are these all bunched together and why do they just loop?  
RJT> Or am I missing something here?
 AH> This is likely also a vestige of the dos days.  When a call 
 AH> comes in to Bink, it generated an errorlevel.  By trapping that 
 AH> level and using it to spawn Max, the caller got the proper 
 AH> estimates for time of downloads and uploads.  BBS_336 is a 
 AH> 33600 connect, BBS_312 is a 31200 connect, BBS_288 is a 28800 
 AH> connect, and so on.
I remember seeing something about doing away with much of that stuff,  though 
I can't remember any more if it was in the bink echo or the maximus echo,  
something about the way bink passes control to max that had a bearing on 
is.
AH>> :Error
AH>> Echo 
RJT> What's that one?
 AH> If there's a serious error that halts Max, the system beeps
 AH> and the message below is displayed.
I didn't see the use of that funny character up there in that "Echo" line,  
can't say I've run across this one before.
AH>> Echo Serious Error - Maximus Halted.
AH>> Goto End
AH>> :End
AH>> EXIT
AH>>    ----- runmaxp.cmd ends -----
AH>> These use the OS/2 "Start" command:
RJT> Which,  as I understand it,  doesn't let you switch to that 
RJT> process to see what's going on.  Is that the case?
 AH> No.  You can easily switch.  Ctrl-Esc brings up a list of 
 AH> processes, and you can switch to whichever you wish to view.  
 AH> Alt-Esc switches from one process to the next, usually in the 
 AH> order in which they were started.  I often view the unpacking 
 AH> of mail if it comes in while I'm at the machine.
Maybe I misunderstood,  and it was a different command that I'm thinking of 
there.  Detach,  perhaps?
AH>> After mail arrives:
AH>>    ----- mail.cmd begins -----
AH>> echo off
AH>> D:
AH>> cd\squish
AH>> sq386p in out squash -fd:\max\echotoss.log
AH>> REM sqlinkp -fd:\max\echotoss.log
RJT> Why the REM here?
 AH> I don't use Sqlink - it took too long, and none of my users 
 AH> were using the message read commands that read linked threads, 
 AH> anyway. 
It does take a long time,  but I like to see those links myself...
 AH> Plus, with all the echoes, so many threads have their subject 
 AH> lines changed eventually, and thus become unfollowable by 
 AH> Sqlink.  Why make the drive be accessed any more than 
 AH> necesssary, I decided.
Ok.
AH>> erase d:\max\outbound\*.bsy
AH>> cd\max
AH>> scanbldp MATRIX
AH>> erase echotoss.log
AH>>    ----- mail.cmd ends -----
AH>> All message areas except netmail are squish format.
RJT> That one is here,  too.
 AH> I had netmail as squish, but I had to go back to *.msg because 
 AH> the makenl program requires a *.msg netmail area.
RJT> I'll save these and use 'em as a starting point,  at least...
 AH> I got the runos2 and rundos .cmd files from a fellow sysop when 
 AH> I was convinced by he and others to switch to os/2 2.11.  I was 
 AH> extremely reluctant - I had DV/QEMM, thhey did what I wanted, 
 AH> and os/2 seemed overwhelming (it still is - there's so much I 
 AH> don't know, but that's my fault.)  For several months, I ran 
 AH> basically the same bbs setup I had run under DV in os/2 (I 
 AH> called it BBS in Dos, and started it in my startup folder), 
 AH> while playing with setting up the os/2 versions (which I called 
 AH> BBS in os/2.)  Worked fine.  Once I got the os/2 setup working, 
 AH> I made the full switchover (including HPFS), and have never 
 AH> regretted it for a second. OS/2 is so much faster, more 
 AH> reliable, and more configurable than DV/QEMM, which were fine 
 AH> programs in their own right. 
Well,  I got the hardware I needed to hook up that drive today,  so perhaps 
tomorrow I'll format it and then start thinking out how I want to lay the 
partitions out and other things,  so I expect things will start rolling here 
shortly...
email: roy.j.tellason%tanstaaf@frackit.com 
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