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README                        Omega Point/2 Bulletin Board System
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This file details specific instructions and information on
features that may have been changed or added since your manual
was printed.


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Installation and Setup Instructions
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The distribution diskette is divided into three parts. The base
system consists of all the files on the root directory of the
diskette; the developers kit and example files are contained in
the directory '\DEV'; and the menu, message, and MCF files are
contained in the directory '\MNU'.

To install the system, simply enter the command "A:INSTALL" (or
B:INSTALL if you are installing from your B: drive).

The install program will first ask you for a destination drive.
Next, it will copy all the files in the root directory of the
distribution diskette to a directory called '\RUNBBS' on the
destination drive. After the base system is copies, the menu and
message files will be copied. These files are only copied if you
are installing the system for the first time. If you wish to
update selective files, you will need to copy them manually.
Finally, the install program asks if you wish to copy the
developers toolkit. If you answer 'Yes', the files will be copied
to the directory '\RUNBBS\DEV' on the destination drive.

After copying the required files, the install program creates the
directories the system will need. The directories created are as
follows: 'DN1', 'DN2', 'EMAIL', 'ETC', 'MESSAGES', 'USERS'.

NOTICE!!! If you are installing Omega Point/2 as an update, you
will want to back up any menu files that you have changed. Files
that will be overwritten when the update is installed are *.MCF,
*.MSG and *.ANS. Copy these files to a temporary directory before
installing the update.

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Enhancements and Bug Fixes
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November 1, 1990. Version 0.8:

    o  First public release!

November 11, 1990. Version 0.8a:

    o  Two new MCF functions added. Function "MESSQUICKNEW" can
       be called from within the MESSMNU.MCF. It scans each
       message forum, reading each "new" message. After reading
       all new messages in a forum, the user is asked if he or
       she would like to post a new message.

    o  Function "MESSSCANCONFIG" was added. This function allows
       the user to customize which of the active forums are
       scanned when MESSQUICKNEW is selected.

    o  A bug that caused the DOBBS.CMD batch file not to
       correctly recognize when the BBS was terminated by a
       BBSSEND request was fixed.

    o  The BBS may now be automatically terminated on a regular
       basis. To do so, add the command line option "-s time" to
       the line that executes BBS.EXE in DOBBS.CMD. 'time' should
       be a 24 hour representation. For example, "0300" would
       terminate the BBS at 3am. DOBBS.CMD skips to a special
       section when the BBS is terminated this way. You may use
       this to do any system specific backup or simply as a way
       to reset the system daily. Users are given a 5 minute
       warning before the system terminates.

    o  Another new MCF Function was added, "SYSOPRESET". This
       function causes the BBS to terminate 2 minutes after the
       function is executed. The DOBBS.CMD batch file will,
       however, automatically restart the BBS. This function can
       be used by remote sysops to perform a software reset.

    o  An option has been added to the SETUP menu. Option number
       14 allows the SysOp to determine if messages are
       registered as new based on when the user was last in the
       forum or by the last message number the user read in that
       forum. The default is by message number.

    o  A status line has been added to the bottom of the SysOp
       status screen. The line shows the number of pages sent,
       number of logins, number of users currently online, and
       the number of messages sent. These numbers are for the
       current invocation of the system only, and are reset when
       the system is restarted.

December 1, 1990. Version 0.8b:

    o  Added global commands. Global commands may be used from
       nearly any prompt on the system. This includes the editor,
       teleconference, chat, menu prompts, and external programs.
       Global commands do not work at any prompt that takes more
       then 1 word for input. For example, the "message subject"
       prompt. (Programmers: this means any prompt that uses
       SerGetStr() to collect it's input). It also will not work
       from within external programs that do not use the BBS API
       library (CZARWARS, for example). The following commands
       are implemented: "/p" to page a user, "/w" to show who is
       online, "/t" to show time online and time remaining, and
       "/off" to log off the system.

    o  Fixed a bug in teleconference that caused users to be
       "uninvited" from a room they had not yet entered at
       seemingly random times.

    o  Added features to teleconference so that SysOps may use
       the "/m" command for forcefully moderate a room. Also, a
       SysOp may now use the "/i" command in a room, regardless
       of whether or not they own that room.

December 10, 1990. Version 0.8c:

    o  Added new option to the SETUP menu. The new option allows
       the SysOp to set the minutes a user must wait between
       calls. If the user calls before this time has elapsed,
       he/she will not be allowed on the system.

    o  Added another new option to the SETUP menu. The option
       allows you to specify the level at which a user is
       considered "verified". Any user with an access level equal
       to or above the verified level is said to be a verified
       user. Verified users have only one benifit over non-
       verified users; their name appears in the recent caller
       log. When a non-verified user uses the system, "NEWUSER"
       is placed in the log.

    o  The MCF function 'CONMESSAGE' now beeps when a message is
       sent.

    o  When an E-Mail or public message is sent to an invisible
       user, the user sending the message is no longer told that
       the receiving user has been notified. However, the
       receiving user will receive a page anyway.


March 28, 1991.  Version 0.9:

    o  The USER, MESSAGE, and FILE databases have been improved.
       Each subsystem now uses the same base database functions.
       This was done to improve performance, maintainibility,
       accessibility, and reliability. The database functions
       have been removed from the main executable and placed in a
       new DLL, called BBSDB.DLL. For programmers, there are
       three new class of BBS API functions (Udb, Mdb and Fdb).
       The new classes are not documented here, contact ExcelSoft
       if you would like to write expansion modules that use
       these functions. Notice: because of the extensive changes
       to the database system the user, file and message systems
       from previous versions will no longer work with the
       system.

    o  Global commands have been removed from the main executable
       and placed in a new DLL, called BBSGLOB.DLL.

    o  The source code for BBSGLOB.DLL has been made public.
       Global commands may be changed or added. The only
       restrictions are that the functions that are included with
       the system must remain (since they are called by name from
       the main BBS), but the functionality may be changed. The
       source code is in the 'DEV' directory - see BBSGLOB.C,
       BBSGLOB.H and BBSGLOB.MAK.

    o  The command line syntax for each of the BBS utilities has
       been changed to be more consistent. Options are now case
       sensitive and the '=' is no longer used. The new syntax is
       consistent with the UNIX command line format.

    o  USERLIST.EXE has been updated. Lists may now be sorted by
       many different fields of the user record by using the '-s
       [field]' option. Type 'USERLIST -h' for a complete
       description.

    o  MESSPACK.EXE has been updated to allow the renumbering of
       messages. This is supported with the '-r' option. Type
       'MESSPACK -h' for a complete description.

    o  FILEPACK.EXE has been updated to include a new "check"
       option. This option will check the specified file
       section(s) and search for files that are in the database
       but do not exist, or files that exist but are not entered
       in the database. Type 'FILEPACK -h' for a complete
       description.

    o  A new file called 'INVALID.BBS' is now packaged with the
       system. This file allows the sysop to specify certain
       handles or strings within handles that are considered
       "inappropriate". Strings are entered in the file, one per
       line. If the first character of the line is a '*', the
       follow text may not appear in a handle. Otherwise, only
       handles that match the exact text will be discarded.

    o  The "Users Online" display now shows "-Newuser-" for any
       user who is below the "User Verified Level" instead of the
       user's normal information. SysOps will still see the
       normal information, but an 'n' will be displayed in the
       flag field.

    o  Electronic Mail bug fixed that caused the message "no more
       messages" to be displayed even when messages remained in
       the user's box.

    o  Intelligence has been added to the "last message read"
       counter so that if you delete the message files for a
       particular forum, the next time the user enters the forum,
       his counter will be reset to the beginning. This bug
       caused problems for those wishing to quickly clear a
       message forum.

    o  A teleconference bug has been fixed that allowed clever
       users to turn off the anonymous flag at the right time to
       see who said what.

    o  Several other small bugs and improvements have been
       addressed.

    o  We would also like to announce the opening of the Omega
       Point/2 support BBS. Ideas, announcements, and public
       domain add-on modules will be posted. Call us at
       404-564-1961. We're open 24 hours a day with a 9600 bps
       HST/V.32 modem.


July 7th, 1991.  Version 0.9a:

    o  Omega Point/2 two line version released in Shareware form.

    o  Internet mail supported for registered users. To allow
       Internet mail on your system, first install version 0.9a
       of Omega Point/2. Next, download the Internet package from
       the Omega Point/2 support BBS (404-564-1961) and install
       it. Next, enter the "setup" menu on your system, select
       option number 18 to allow Internet mail. Users may now,
       from the E-Mail section, enter message addresses in the
       Internet format, i.e. "system!john". Follow the rest of
       the instructions included with the Internet package to set
       up a UUCP link.

    o  Other minor bugs fixed and minor cosmetic changes made.

