Hello Richard !

On 20-May'08 14:31, Richard Webb wrote to Minh Van Le:

 RW> I'm planning some upgrading in the future here once other 
 RW> business details are sorted out. THough the bbs is for 
 RW> hobby activity related to emergency communications and ham 
 RW> radio it will benefit from these upgrades by being able to 
 RW> offer telnet access as well as pots. POts will always 

Man you mean you haven't hooked up NetFOSS or Netserial - what have you been DOING.

I dunno. Imo using a BBS sounds inappropriate, probably because the words
"hobby" and "emergency" shouldn't be used close
together in a sentence.

 RW> remain with binkley as front end with max dos underneath, 
 RW> but haven't sorted out all the issues yet. Your post brings 
 RW> up some questions, and I'd like your input.  Remember I'm 
 RW> not a real programmer, just a radio op and audio guy who 
 RW> runs a rather simple installation.

You should have no problems with Maximus/32 if you avoid passing
connections between separate DOS windows.

 MVL> That is true. CPU utilisation for DOS programs in 
 MVL> multitasking OS's like Windows depend on whether the program 
 MVL> releases time slices to the OS.  

 RW> NOt an issue for the pots system with binkleyterm and max 
 RW> dos as it would be on a separate machine, sharing message 
 RW> and file areas over the lan.

Even if you have POTS on a separate PC, if you intend on setting up
telnettable Maximus you will probably have to use the DOS version of
Maximus on Windows, at which point it will hog the CPU eg. 30% - 50% per
active node.

This is because most free telnet servers (TelSrv, GameSrv, Net2BBS) only
run on Windows and require a TCP/IP FOSSIL emulator (eg. NetFOSS) to
connect to the BBS, and only the Maximus DOS binary supports FOSSILs.

Maximus/32 does not support FOSSILs because it uses direct com port access. 
(Which means to telnet to Maximus/32 on windows, you will need to use a
virtual modem (Netserial/CompIP/netmodem) (which cost money). If you can
afford USD$50 - USD$200 to register virtual modems then there's no problem.
(Or you can run the Maximus OS/2 with VMODEM or Linux binaries which are
free options. But then you will have to use OS/2 and/or Linux. Heh)).

 MVL> I run WFC mode using Maximus/32 specifically for scheduling 
 MVL> BBS maintenance events because it can idle all day without 
 MVL> CPU utilisation.  

 RW> This would be advantageous as telnettable max would 
 RW> probably be on machine with shared message and file areas.

If you need to telnet to Maximus/32 on Windows, you will need to use a
virtual modem eg. Netserial/CommIP/Netmodem (= $).

 MVL> The disadvantage of Maximus/32 is its direct com port 
 MVL> access requirement. If you try to set up a Maximus/32 node 
 MVL> on a physically non-existant com port, WFC will abort. Also 
 MVL> anything that requires a FOSSIL will not work in Maximus/32. 
 MVL> And hot com port passing will not work with Maximus/32 (ie. 
 MVL> DTR is dropped when passing callers between DOS programs eg. 
 MVL> BinkleyTerm to/from Maximus) unless you use WinFOSSIL or 
 MVL> Netserial.

 RW> That might make things interesting, as another machine will 
 RW> be handling all outside connectivity through dsl. iF that's 
 RW> workable then max32 might still be an option for me, as I 
 RW> run no doors at this time. Hence we wouldn't need a fossil 
 RW> driver nor com port sharing.

Yeah that will probably work. Atleast the Maximus multinode stuff eg.
online chat will still work between separate computers regardless of
connection type (dialup/DSL) because IPC is handling the semaphorish
exchange between nodes (if the PCs are networked).

 RW> Trying to get a grasp of the issues I'm going to face 
 RW> before I end up fishing around in the dark. I"m an old dos 
 RW> dinosaur that doesn't do windows, but have one machine 
 RW> running 98 that would be usable for this.

Well, you can always use modern technology and substitute your Maximus BBS
for Linux services. Eg. run a PPP and/or TCP/IP connected webserver,
gopher, nntp server etc. There's Apache for Windows and Linux et al. This
way you will have no technological/software/redundancy problems.

And people can use their web browsers (!) And you can show pictures and/or
pornography (!) You can't get all that with a BBS. Plus simple html files
load fast even at 33.6 kbps.

One day Win98 won't even install on a new PC.

 RW> AS I said earlier, I don't run any door games, or anything 
 RW> else in doorway mode at this time. sUggestions are most 
 RW> welcome.

If you don't require FOSSIL compatibility (usually for doors via Xtern_*
exits) or pass connections between seperate DOS windows, then Maximus/32
will probably suffice.

 MVL> In my experience Maximus/32 without WinFOSSIL or Netserial 
 MVL> is only useful for local nodes.

Maybe the "UsrRemote Xtern_Run Command.Com_>com%P_ I would like to hear if you think this is true in my 
 RW> application as well.

I haven't extensively tested Maximus/32 but I think as long as the POTS
connection stays within the current Maximus/32 process everything will work
(eg. all Maximus menus & display features including .bbs, .mex etc)
because all the comms stuff is handled internally by Maximus.

I don't know how Maximus/32 will work with virtual modems like
Netserial/CommIP etc. It will probably handle telnet connections with the
same forementioned POTS limitations.

WinFossil should handle any POTS situation Ok. But it's old and cost money.
I don't even know if you can still register it.

I think Netserial does what WinFossil can do but it also cost money, but is
new and actively developed and maintained.

When setting up telnettable Maximus you need to decide between 

  1) suffering CPU performance problems with Maximus/DOS or 
  2) paying for virtual modems to use Maximus/32. 

Else use the Maximus OS/2 or Linux binaries.

--- Msged/386 4.30