What's New in RBBS Version 15.1A?
---------------------------------
RBBS-PC CPC15-1A will be the 28th release of RBBS-PC CPCxx since it was first 
published in July of 1983.  RBBS-PC's policy of freely distributing the source 
code and continually expanding it's range of capabilities throughout these 
last four years represents not only the very best that is embodied in the 
concept of "users helping users" but an expectation of excellence that NO 
product in the PC industry has ever even approached.  Here is a brief summary 
of the major enhancements in RBBS-PC CPC15-1A:

o    SPEED!  RBBS-PC runs significantly faster.

o    STRUCTURE!  Code has been made easier for users to modify.  There
     is more room in the main code segment and RBBS-PC more efficiently
     uses string space.

o    MINIMUM SYSOP MAINTENANCE REQUIRED! There is a new, but optional,  FILE 
     MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (FMS) that can be set up so that the SYSOP no longer 
     need maintain his file system "directories."  User's can be allowed to 
     automatically categorize the files they upload. The new entry will be 
     written to the file management system and, optionally, strewn to a second 
     file that a SYSOP might wish to edit and insert an evaluation or comments 
     about the uploaded files.  The speed of file searches has been increased 
     from 10 to 100-fold. A caller can download in the midst of listing files, 
     and the listing will resume where it left off after downloading is 
     completed.

o    ADDITIONAL FILE TRANSFER PROTOCOLS!  More error checking protocols for 
     file exchange.  Now support exists for YMODEM, WINDOWED XMODEM, YMODEMG, 
     and IMODEM in addition to KERMIT, XMODEM (checksum) and XMODEM (CRC).

o    LAN ELECTRONIC MAIL!  RBBS-PC can be run as a "workstation" appearing on 
     the local PC's screen exactly as it would to a user who had dialed in as 
     remote user.  In "workstation" mode, RBBS-PC can be run on a PC without 
     either a modem or a RS-232 interface.  It can serve as an electronic mail 
     system on a local area network in "workstation" mode (up to 36 stations) 
     or as a teaching tool in a classroom environment to demonstrate RBBS-PC's 
     full range of features.

o    ALL COMMANDS CONFIGURABLE!  The symbols used for the RBBS-PC commands are 
     configurable.  Any command can be disabled.  Users see only what commands 
     they have sufficient security to execute.  A SYSOP can even configure 
     RBBS-PC so that any command can be executed from any sub-section.  All of 
     this is, as always, optional.  RBBS-PC tries to strive to let each SYSOP 
     have total autonomy (rather attempt to restrict).

o    MULTIPLE QUESTIONAIRES!  The new command A)nswer command allows multiple 
     optional questionaires to be set up that users can selectively answer.  A 
     SYSOP can put up a questionaire at anytime that all users (both new and 
     old) must answer.  A new command has been added to the questionair script 
     language that allows the SYSOP to elect to have nothing written to the 
     script's data file.

o    USERS CAN VIEW ARC FILES!  User's can obtain a verbose listings of the
     the contents of an ARCed file prior to downloading it.

o    TOTAL USER CONTROL OF PREFERENCES!  A user can now T)oggle on or off any 
     of his preferences.

o    UNIQUE USER ID'S!  With RBBS-PC CPC15-1A, any field (not just the user's 
     name) can be used to uniquely identify users.  More than one user can 
     have the same ID (everyone in a the same SIG) and still have unique 
     names.  A new field for whatever the SYSOP wants to use to identify users 
     now exists within the USER's record.  Users can be added with no pre-
     assigned password (i.e the first caller who uses the name is allowed to 
     set the password).  RBBS-PC can be set up so that valid accounts are pre-
     loaded and users can be given INSTANTANEOUS access at the discretion of 
     the SYSOP, e.g. when the users becomes a member of a user group or SIG.

o    MULTIPLE UPLOADS!  Just as earlier versions of RBBS-PC allowed for 
     multiple downloads, CPC15-1A now allows multiple file names to be 
     specified on a single command line when uploading.

o    BUILT-IN SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES!  RBBS-PC CPC15-1A has built in support 
     for limiting callers based on a subscription date.  A subscription period 
     can be specified for every security level, and the security a caller gets 
     when his subscription expires is specifiable.  This allows automatic 
     support for SYSOP's who request users to purchase subscription to their 
     boards or for time-limited privileges.  Stored in each caller's record is 
     the date the subscription began.

o    COMMAND-LEVEL HELP!  Help files can now be specified not just by section, 
     but by individual command, as well as a menu of SYSOP-specified special 
     topics, such as ARC files.

o    MUSIC!  The SYSOP can elect to have the PC running RBBS-PC to play a 
     musical refrain each time a user selects specific functions (i.e. "Walk 
     right in" when a new user logs on; "Dragnet" when a security violation 
     occurs; "Goodbye Charlie" when a user logs off; "Taps" when a user is 
     denied access; "OOM PAH PAH" when a user downloads; "Thanks for the 
     Memories" when a user uploads).  The auditory feedback enables SYSOPS to 
     focus on other activities without having to watch the local screen.  More 
     importantly, this type of auditory feed-back is intended to aid SYSOP's 
     who are visually impaired.

o    CONSTRAINTS OF EARLIER VERSIONS LIFTED!  Many of the constraints that 
     existed in versions of RBBS-PC prior to 15-1A have been lifted.  some of 
     them are:

           The upload directory need not be present on the same 
           drive/subdirectory that uploaded files are written to.

           When the users file is full, new users need no longer be kicked off 
           the system.  Instead, they can be let on but not remembered, i.e. 
           not be written to the user's file.  On subsequent calls, they will 
           remain new users and must re-register.

           RBBS-PC can be logged on to from the keyboard of the PC on which it 
           is running (without calling through a modem) and will respond to 
           the PC's screen in the same manner as a remote user would see it.

           First and last names can have interior blanks.  Initial blanks are 
           still not allowed, and trailing blanks are still ignored.

           The file description for uploads can be up to 46 characters long.

           The speed with which text files, such as menus, are displayed, can 
           be increased by enlarging the buffer size used within 15-1A for 
           displaying ASCII files via a parameter in CONFIG.

           Viewing the upload directory (or the uploads with the default 
           category code) is controlled by the user's security level.  Before, 
           if you made the upload drive not available for downloading, only 
           the SYSOP could view the upload directory.

o    BETTER ERROR TRAPPING!  RBBS-PC CPC15-1A now detects and reports any 
     problem when writing during an upload.; recovers from any problem when 
     trying to kill a file already present before an upload; and traps all bad 
     paths in a file name.

o    BETTER PROMPTS/MESSAGES!  Much effort has been expended to insure that
     where possible prompts were clarified, messages made more meaningful, and 
     defaults consistently shown.  Some examples of this are:

           The "G>raphics" command was clarified.  The prompt makes it clear 
           that ASCII and color options are for IBM computers and the "help" 
           file for the command is automatically displayed when the user is in 
           "novice" mode.

           "Chat" mode now  has a beginning opening and closing message.

           The prompt for a "P>assword" now clearly states that pressing enter 
           quits.

           The "N>ulls" command now explains that it is for printing 
           terminals.

           "Press [ENTER] to quit" is used more uniformly.

           Defaults with prompts are more uniformly indicated by putting [] 
           around the default.

           The List command no longer requires that a directory be specified 
           in advance.  The list command used alone will prompt for a 
           directory and default to the directory of directories.

           The editing command in messages is much easier to use.  It no 
           longer requires the user to specify new and old string together but 
           breaks up the edit into a search for what and replace by what.  The 
           syntax from earlier versions of RBBS-PC is still supported in 
           keeping with RBBS-PC's long-standing policy of being upward 
           compatable.

           The prompt when changing page length has been clarified to indicate 
           that the number of lines can have any value between 0 and 255.

           U>pload and D>ownload commands immediately respond with message 
           "Searching for file...".  In some configurations with large 
           (and/or) slow disks a user might see a signficant delay with no 
           indication what was going on with this new response.

           If 1000 or more files are searched in a directory without filling 
           the screen with "hits", the caller is asked whether he wants to 
           continue the search.

           Requests for Non-stop in file searches in the L)ist and S)ubstring 
           commands require confirmation if at least a 1000 more files remain 
           to be searched.

           File searching supports true paging.  No longer will the menu or 
           multiple searches scroll away previous results.  The pause properly 
           pauses at the bottom.

           Callers are now informed explicitly whenever an upload or download 
           was successful.  Some novices mistakenly thought that errors during 
           tranmission mean they had to re-do the transmission.

o    ENHANCED SECURITY!  Paths are now supported in the file security system.  
     Kermit up/down loads no longer list drive/path where then file is 
     located.  More secure limitation of DOORS and QUESTIONNAIRES exist since 
     RBBS-PC will no longer accept proper substrings of legitimate items.

o    NEW DEBUG MODE!  Special debug mode has been added to allow all errors, 
     including those that are handled within RBBS-PC, to be seen as they 
     occur.

o    AUTO-NOTIFICATION!  The SYSOP can elect to notify users immediately upon 
     loging on of the number of new bulletins and new files available for 
     downloading since the user last logged on.

o    TURBO-DOWNLOADING!  A SYSOP can allow users to review the files that are 
     new since the user last logged on and download them immediately (without 
     requiring the user to see any messages).

o    INVALID DIRECTORIES ELIMINATED!  All directories to be searched are put 
     in one specific drive/subdirectory in order to speed up directory 
     searches and simplify maintenance.  This eliminates the possibility that 
     data files with the same extension of true directories being considered 
     RBBS-PC directories.

o    PROMPTS WIPED OFF SCREEN! "MORE" prompts are wiped away after a response, 
     except when files to download are specified.  Very useful when more 
     interupts continuous text, as in menu or message.

o    RING-NO-ANSWER MINIMIZED!  As soon as carrier is lost or the SYSOP takes 
     RBBS-PC off line via function key F1 to use the PC for other things, the 
     phone is taken off the hook so callers will receive a busy signal (and 
     not be charged for the call by the phone company).

o    AUTODOWNLOAD ENHANCED!  The SYSOP can select to turn off the automatic 
     test of every user for autodownloading.  The escape sequence test for 
     autodownloading caused problems with some communications packages and 
     terminals.  User's now can toggle autodownloading on and off during a 
     session and their preference will be permanently remembered.

o    MISCELLANEOUS BUGS FIXED!  While numerous bugs in 141D have been 
     corrected, the ones that come to mind are:

           A TAB in messages is not allowed.  

           A caller will not be kicked off with a sleep disconnect after 
           chatting with the SYSOP for more than the maximum time a caller can 
           be idle.

           Very long messages no longer cause RBBS-PC to hang in the middle of 
           entering them.

           Uploaded files do not have a control-Z appended to them (which 
           formerly resulted in spurious CRC errors on ARC files).

           The SYSOP can configure RBBS-PC for more bulletins than exist.

           File sizes are now properly recorded for all uploads.

           Failed uploads with 0 bytes are now recognized as bad uploads.

           KERMIT file transfers can now occur with file names (drive, path, 
           filename) up to the full maximum of 63 charaters.

   ====================END OF WHAT'S NEW IN RBBSPC CPC151A================
