Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rphroy!caen!kuhub.cc.ukans.edu!maverick.ksu.ksu.edu!unlinfo.unl.edu!hoss!greg From: greg@hoss.unl.edu (Lig Lury Jr.) Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple2 Subject: Re: Apple ][ BBS Software Message-ID: <1991Jun3.180125.29662@unlinfo.unl.edu> Date: 3 Jun 91 18:01:25 GMT References: <1991Jun3.110800.26026@crash.cts.com> Sender: news@unlinfo.unl.edu Organization: GBBS/ACOS Sysop Support Lines: 82 Nntp-Posting-Host: hoss.unl.edu ** Sender Unknown ** writes: Something went bonkers... >I have made several changes to allow me to use various features of my >system the way I want them. I love to see people configuring programs for their own needs. A system should always contain a bit of the sysop's personality. >Be aware though, that in making modifications, you lose configuration >control which is critical when Morgan Davis provides his periodic updates >to the software (usually quarterly.) Any changes you make would have to be >made in the modified software as well and might have to be redesigned each >time you get an update. True. An isolated system has more creative control than a networked system. Again a reason why I don't like networked bulletin boards where you get official patches which would obsolete your own. Especially when the system attempts to automatically implement the patches for you this could be a major problem. >Also, MD-Basic produces some lines that are longer than is legal in >Applesoft, making editing, even with a Basic program line editor, >impossible. His program lines are only 1 number apart, requiring inventive >programming to put in some of the changes you might desire. >Not impossible, just challangeing. In fact, the variable name "FN" is perfectly legal in AppleSoft. However, if you edit a line with that variable in it without a tool which knows the difference, you'll get it retokenized as the part of the DEF FN statement. Token-level programming gets past this. I don't know if MD-BASIC does this, or uses an alternate. Similar problems occur with programs which have part of their code garbled intentionally, since it is actual byte data stored there. Such programs often appear in magazines which say it prints a secret message, but when you enter them, they get parsed differently. Again, this is only peripherally related. >The bbs front end is provided by a menuing program called PLUSH (Proline >Users SHell.) This menu can be modified as you like to completely change >the look and feel of your bbs screens and menus. A lot of systems use this >feature to modify their Prolines without any configuration control >problems. Menus are look. Code is feel. If all one changes is menus, one can still get around if one is familiar with the software. It is the same core file. Very little of my ACOS-based system still contains GBBS "Pro" code. ProLine makes the assumption that everything is already what you want/need. I can do without "cute" things like "On This Day" and "fortune" programs. I had to delete the first one to just get it to fit inside a 1024K RAMdisk. >The foundation of Proline is a Unix-like shell called "csh" and this too >allows the writing of script files which can change the look and feel of >your system. So we start implementing another language. Interpreted through BASIC yet. >So, all in all, without any Basic program modifications, you can play >around with a Proline system to your hearts content. Not me. Without extensive modifications I can barely get anything done with it. One thing I love about METAL and ACOS is that you can split it among several physical drives and it doesn't care. ><<>> >Proline: mikeu@pro-magic >Internet: crash!pnet01!mikeu@pro-magic.cts.com >UUCP: (..uunet!tarpit!bilver!pro-magic!mikeu) >Arpa: crash!pnet01!pro-magic!mikeu@nosc.mil >Voice: 407-366-5840 | Prodigy: JSNP58A | Compuserve: 71326,31 -- /// ____ \\\ "The major problem--one of the major problems, for there are | |/ / \ \| | several--one of the many major problems with governing \\_|\____/|_// people is of whom you get to do it, or more to the greg \_\\\/ hoss.unl.edu point, who gets people to let them do it to them."