🚀 go-pugleaf

jamesd@techbook.com (James Deibele) writes:

>I couldn't find a copy of Boardwatch to call eSoft and ask them these
>questions ... and besides, I'd be interested in hearing what actual
>sysops have to say.

eSoft's phone number is (303) 699-6565 (administrative) and (303) 699-
-1300 (tech support)

>(1) I'd like the voice and fax numbers for eSoft, plus an e-mail address
>if they've got one for people besides customers.


>(2) Initially I'm looking at TBBS for supporting file areas.  Comments
>from people have lead me to conclude that TBBS really can support many
>users downloading at high speed.  If that's false, I'd like to hear 
>about it now.  How well does it handle files?  

Phil Becker has been described as a genius programmer.  TBBS handles
file downloads on multiple systems very well due to his implementation
of the different file transfer protocols internal to TBBS.  Phil
liscensed the zmodem protocol from the author and gives a full 
implementation with Moby Turbo.  I've put together a couple of multi- 
line bbs systems with TBBS and have been very pleased at how even a 
286 system handles a couple of lines at once.  Of course, more capacity 
requires more processor power.

>Let me explain that a little further: I've only seen a couple of TBBS 
>sytems set up, but they don't seem to do that great a job of file
>organization.  And I haven't seen support for fast keyword searches
>across all directories or building a download list (you can add or
>delete files from a list, then download them all with one command)
>that other BBS programs have.  Is this just a case of these systems
>being setup poorly?

TBBS has built in text file searching capability.  The index to the
listed files is stored in text files, so it wouldn't be that hard to 
setup commands that search for text strings to locate files.  There 
are third party TDBS (this is the option module that allows you to 
write dBase III code and have it run online) programs that better handle 
large file areas and have all of the file download lists, etc. features.

>UNIX has symbolic links, which means that it's possible to have one file
>appear to be in two or more places.  This is handy for certain programs
>because they could logically go in multiple places.  I don't expect TBBS
>to have symbolic links, but is it possible to make references to files
>in another directory?  An example might be of printer utilities for
>WordPerfect running PostScript.  It could go under printers,
>WordPerfect, or PostScript (assuming there were directories for each),
>but if the user is looking in the wrong directory, he won't find it.
>Copying it three times not only takes up three times as much space, it 
>makes three times as many files to keep track of ... not good if a new
>version comes out.

You can have a billion references to the same file.  The .DIR text files
that references the files has one entry for how you want the file to be 
listed to callers and another for the path and name of the file on the 
system.

>(3) Does TBBS support CD-ROMs at all?  Does it support them well?

You must build .DIR files to contain the references to the files on 
the CD-ROM.  There are utilities to do this available for download 
from the eSoft BBS.  Alternatively, you can allow callers to see the 
CD-ROM as a raw DOS drive.

>(4) I've seen a comment that a problem on a LAN that the TBBS site is
>connected to affects the TBBS site.  Is this common?  Has anyone used
>a UNIX-based LAN (as opposed to Novell) with TBBS?

The only way I would see that this would affect TBBS is if TBBS couldn't
get to files it needs across the LAN.  It is up to you where you place 
any needed files.  A LAN problem would cause problems on any BBS system 
if that system had files stored across the LAN.  

>(5) Further down the road, I'd like to add messages.  I've heard that
>TBBS can handle FidoNet mail and echomail.  Does the system have to come
>down to process this?  Are there limits on the number of message areas
>supported?  If so, what are they?  

TBBS has a limit on the amount of text that the screen editing buffer 
supports, so messages entered can only be around 16k or so.  There is 
no limit on messages that come from other sources and are merely 
displayed on the system.  The topic board feature with the new version 
of TBBS will allow you to support up to 15,752,961 different message 
areas (if you consider that limiting, well.......).  Again, there are 
third party TDBS programs that support mail differently.  I'm quite 
happy with TBBS's quoting, message upload, and offline (.QWK) support. 

The system doesn't have to come down to support incoming calls if TIMS 
(The Integrated Mail System) is installed.  It does with outbound calls. 
There will be a new package released in a couple of months that will 
let the system place outbound mail calls on one line without taking the 
other lines down as well.

>(6) Can it handle other networks besides FidoNet?  For example, I'm sure
>that Usenet groups would have to be translated to FidoNet format.  But
>what about RIME or other non-FidoNet networks?  

>(7) Can you send mail to Internet sites?  There seem to be a fair number
>of people using PC Board sites available via Internet mail, but nobody
>on TBBS sites.  I saw Larry's comment on Jack Rickard and a future
>Internet mail system and that sounds neat.  Right now, I'd imagine it
>would be possible to send mail to someone via FidoNet-Usenet gateway
>software.  None of the TBBS systems I've seen is even hooked to FidoNet,
>so I can't check this out.

I'm currently working on a system that uses a combination of uucico, 
fredmail, and the TMail utilities to process Usenet and Internet mail. 
Internet mail messages must have the to: address put on the first line 
of the message and be addressed to something like POSTMASTER.  Yes, there 
are sources for TDBS programs that avoid this, but I don't consider it 
enough of a pain to spend the extra money.

>(8) How is the offline-reader support?  Does it work with all QWK
>readers, or just eSoft's? 

The menues for the QWK reader support are hard coded.  I like it.  Just 
install the QSO option, define the message areas you want to make available 
and away it goes.  

>(9) How well does it support chatting functions?  I don't expect
>anything as sophisticated as Internet Relay Chat, but it'd be nice to
>have something a little more sophisticated than "page sysop".

Chat is very well supported with many options.  I believe there are 64 
CB Simulator channels available through online chat. 

>(10) How is eSoft as a company?  Do they have knowledgable tech support?
>Are they reachable via e-mail?  Do they respond relatively quickly to
>e-mail or fax questions?

It is best to contact them by phone.  E-mails and faxes can be ignored 
for days.  They have a direct line to tech support, and, while I have 
run into an occassional new employee, the tech support guys are pretty up 
on the product.  Bug reports get immediate attention.  

>Thanks for any other insights or information you can provide.

Don't pay retail.  While I think TBBS is well worth the money for the 
type of installations I do, there is no sense paying eSoft full retail 
if you don't have to.  There are several resellers listed in Boardwatch 
that sell for less than retail.  I recently got set up as an eSoft 
reseller since I seem to keep buying their software for other people.
While I'm not out to get into the business of selling software (without 
integration services added) I will resell it for even less than the 
discounters.

>Note: For the curious, the UNIX-based system I help run is not going 
>away or being replaced by a TBBS system.  

Good. You just avoided many nasty e-mails from people who don't realize 
that UNIX is not the best, or most cost effective, solution for every 
problem.