Click on new within the System List and you will be presented with a GUI as show in the image below.

Enter the name of the BBS, some information (to remind you about the contents of the BBS) and, of course, the phone number (or numbers in some cases) into the System Editor.

Enter your user information (username and password) and, if you have a preferences file/settings for individual BBS', load the preferences file with the requestor button.

Quit the System Editor and the information will be inserted into the System List.

Once you have edited the information for your BBS you can now dial your BBS by selecting the BBS within the System List and pressing Dial on the top left of the AmTerm GUI.

AmTerm will now dial your BBS. Your information should be sent automatically. However, if you have not connected to the BBS before you will have to join as a new user and may have to answer some questions about yourself before you are given access to the BBS.

One you have connected and you are accepted into the BBS you will be presented with a number of menu items such as in the image below.

Many of these options may not be used by the average user. The most essential are:

• N - New Files Scan (scan for latest files/uploads since you last connected to the BBS)
• D - Download any files you have selected for downloading (after you have looked at the file list
• U - Upload some new files (remember they should be new and high quality). Uploading to a BBS is recommended as you will be given better download ratios
• FLD - Download the latest file list (all files/programs on the BBS)
• CD - access the CD area (where many CD's are online for access)
• J - Join a conference - many BBS' have different conferences/areas for different subjects. ie. the Digital Candy BBS has a Grapevine Disk Magazine conference whereas other BBS' may have many different conferences for Star Trek fans etc
• S - Edit User Stats. Edit information about yourself
• G - Goodbye/Log-off the BBS

For now, press N and we will examine some of the latest files on the BBS.

Start scanning down the list and the list should stop automatically at certain points in the list (you can pause the scrolling of the list by holding down your right mouse button).

You can see an example list above. Say we saw the file APRINT33.LHA, we read the short description, and wanted to download the file. Click on "F" for flag and the list will stop. Insert the name of the file (exactly as it said within the list or the BBS will just skip your choice). Press return and the list will continue or press "Q" for quit and you will go back to the main menu where you can now download the file.

Before we go ahead and download the file lets have a look at some other areas on the BBS.

Press "J" (join a conference) and you will be presented with a list of conferences that you can join:

Just enter the number of the conference you want to join. When you join your conference and return to the main menu you will be able to search through a different file list, leave messages to other members of that conference etc.

Some sites, like Digital Candy, have multiple CD-Rom's online which you can access:

Go back to the main menu and press "C" to enter a comment for one of the BBS "managers" who run the site.

Choose the person you want to send a message to - in this case we will leave a quick message to Hybrid who is the BBS owner.

Enter a subject for your mail message and select if you want to make the message private - if you choose to make it public, everyone who connects to the BBS will be able to read your message!

Enter the body (text) that you want to be sent. When you have finished press return twice and a list of "other options" will appear. These are just numbers/letters - S is the one the allows you to save your message which will then be stored for the recipient.

You can use this same formula to leave a general message for another user of the BBS or for a public message. At the main menu you would enter "E" for enter message and select who you want to send the message to.

You need to know who you want to send the message to (ie. person) or just select "public" and the message will be seen by all users.

Remember earlier we looked through the files list and chose a file to download? Now it is time to download that file.

Go back to the main menu and select "D" for downloading files and your file will be listed and you will be asked if you want to download it:

Either select "(E)nter to start" or "(G)oodbye after transfer" (recommended) and your file will start to download. If you have selected "goodbye after transfer" then you will be automatically dis-connected from the BBS after the file/s have downloaded. This is good as you could just select all you files and leave to download with the knowledge that the BBS will disconnect you when they are sent.

The image above shows the download GUI which tells you how long until all the files are downloaded, how many files are to go, the speed of the download etc.