| ★ HARDWARE ★ HOW TO BE A SYSOP (AMSTRAD COMPUTER USER) ★ |
HOW TO BE A SYSOP | HOW TO BE A SYSOP (Part 2) |
Nick Hutton continues where he left off last month with some excellent PD host systems for your Bulletin Board aspirations, along with some handy addresses. Last month, we looked at the hardware front of your BB system and I promised you some information about host systems, both for the CPC and other machines. Well, true to my word, cast your eyes over this little list and see what you fancy Wildcat BBS This is a preview or test version of the full BBS system with all features. It is designed to allow the user to evaluate the program and see if it meets his or her needs. Not all commands and features are present but most are. A large and well-written document file accompanies the program and this does list and explain all the features. A few notable features which the full version exhibits are fast B-Tree indexed access to all file areas and message areas, basically this means that you don't need to go through half a dozen pages to move around the board. It supports almost all modems and speeds from 300 to 19200 baud. You can create up to 26 separate message areas and there is great scope for customisation of the log on messages and overall appearance. Opus Opus is a comprehensive bulletin board system incorporating advanced well thought out messages and conference areas as well as a decent file download/ upload manager. It is compatible with the Fidonet system and requires no reconfiguring to allow it to receive and transmit fidonet mail packets. This software is quite popular and the fidonet features really make it a good choice for many people. EaziHost Eazihost is a user friendly comprehensive bulletin board system. Originally it was derived from the limited host mode of the public domain eazilink terminal emulator and comms software. There are strong similarities between the operation of the host system and the popular all-purpose comms version, and users of the terminal emulator will have no trouble finding their way around this piece of software. Eazihost is possibly the easiest of all bulletin boards to setup. Its features include Access levels, Ansi graphics, special user sections, user time limits, multiple message receive, bulletins, doors, archive viewing and good help features. In short very easy to get started on. Minihost Minihost is not really like the other BBSs I have mentioned so far. It is geared mainly towards specialist business use and as such may be a little limiting for the home user. The program can be used on any PC with dual floppy but a hard disc would be nice. It supports colour displays and has levels of security access. One word of warning though, it only supports ascii or x-modem protocols. Probably the greatest or most interesting feature of this system is the ring back facility for the sysop. The sysop dials his computer from a remote location and enters his password and user identity and then hangs up. A short time later his computer at home then dials out to the sysop, hence the sysop is not charged for the call the computer (person) at home gets the bill. This soil of feature is much used by banks and also company reps wanting to leave messages for the boss from all over the country. RBBS Remote Bulletin Board System If you are looking into the more technical side of communications then this could be the package for you. It supports speeds up to 19200 baud and will run happily under multilink and desqview. I was also surprised to find that it will run under most networks. Passwords and user conferences are provided for. I,X, and Y modem protocols are supported as well as kermit Extensive reading of the documentation for this package is required before its powerful features can really be put to use. Electronic Information This package is well designed and fast. It supports good message editing, a 100-page manual, 999 message areas, it is also easy to tailor it to your specific needs. It is an excellent shell for an online system. Towernet This is a highly advanced bulletin board system and e-mail facility. It supports password security and also network communications. The idea is that users enter a central hall and are given the option to go through a door into one of the conference rooms. The original piece of software was quite old and will probably look dated now, but towemet is still a very powerful setup. Not really for the first time user. Searchlight BBS This is the system under which Maxwell House is run. It is a full screen bulletin board and electronic mail system which can be adapted for use in the home or in the office. Many sysops use it and support is excellent. It features a Wordstar workalike message ed itor and is highly advanced. You can incorporate up to 24 message areas, each will hold about 300separate messages. This system is unusual in that it will let users post bulletins as well as messages. Provision is made for external programs to mn. for example online games. In my view this is the best system available for the IBM PC. ArcBBS This is an ansi based bulletin board system for the Archimedes range of computers. It runs in a window and so can mn in the background while you get on with some work. I have not had the chance to use it myself and so I can't really give an in-depth view of its capabilities. At a glance it is easy to use, flexible, and packed with features. It is constantly being updated and support is growing fast. The documentation is provided on disc in archived form and you will require a machine of 1 megabyte or more to run it. There is great scope for customisation and the menu system it uses is fast and clear. For a look at this product in action you could dial 'the world ofciytoh' on 0749-79794. The only drawback with the package is its price, at around £100-110, it isn't cheap. Please note that some of the above shareware programs should be registered if you find them useful. OK you have decided to set up a board, you have chosen your machine and now all you need to know is where to get the other hardware and software. Hard Drives I have found Seagate drives excellent and there is a vast range, right from small cheap efforts to huge fast drives which cost rather more than I suspect any sane person would like to spend. The best places to get hard drives are the specialist vendors. They always have someone on hand who knows his or her stuff, it's a lot more reassuring talking to an enthusiast who happens to sell hard drives than some salesperson who has read his sales pitch a couple of times and wouldn't know zone bit recording from SCSI-2 if he attended a week's intensive course. Sadly there are only a few places which really know what they are talking about, however I have found one or two. Commonside Hardware Services Unit 13 Modems are an interesting area from the buyers' point of view. These days prices of 9600 baud modems are coming down FAST. There is a lot of undercutting going on recently, and it is possible for you to pick up 2400 MNP 5 modems for less than £160 these days. As with hard drives some after sales support is really useful and once again not all vendors are very willing to provide you with it (well not for free at least). I have found a few decent modem vendors but the best I have seen for prices, range and after sales service is listed below. Speed modem Software is a little difficult to buy from shops as they do not expect to sell much bulletin board host software. Some shops may be able to order it for you but your best bet for the CPC and IBM PC is to look in the public domain. As you have read, most of these programs are very professional and a joy to use. They are. in general, comprehensive with excellent support. Remember, if you have a problem then normally there is someone you can e-mail who will have the answer. Why not try Maxwell House first! If you own an Amiga there are also several host systems in the public domain, I haven't used any of these and so I'm not sure of how good they are. Remember, the host software is your datamanager, security system, and front end, which every user will see when he/she logs on. It should not be too complex for a user to move about the system, time is money when you are online! Amstrad User November 1991 |
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