MajorBBS for Unix VM

Introduction
How to use the VM
Network Configuration
User Defined Applications (UDA)
Frequently Asked Questions
Historical Information
Introduction to the VM

This VM was created several years ago in the course of exploring the possibility of running MajorBBS for Unix on modern Linux distributions. It was used as a base to analyze the various binaries, operation and requirements of a working MajorBBS for Unix system. Everything is fully operational and it gives the user a platform to experiment with the system.

The linux install is Slackware 2.3 which is based upon Linux kernel version 1.2.8 and gcc 2.6.3. The MajorBBS install was taken directly from an ISO of the original CD. The only modifications made were to correct file naming issues due to the way the ISO was created. The system was then installed with the popular NWGEEGD9J activation code and configured to work on the included Linux install.

Many of the games, utilities and shells included with the Slackware 2.3 installation are configured as UDAs to let you experience how various Unix applications were used under the system. There are also instructions on how to create your own UDA's with any cli based Linux application if you wish.

Hopefully this release answers the often asked question if MajorBBS will run under Linux and how to do so. It would be great if this spurred interest in running the software and a way found to do so on modern Unixes but those efforts would be much better utilized with one of the various projects working to create a GSBL clone/re-write for Unix such as the Minor BBS project which aims to be compatible with existing DOS modules and addons.


How to use the included Virtual Machine:

If you get stuck along the way or or feel more comfortable with screen shots open readme.html in a web browser to see a shot of each step. Also be sure to read the frequently asked questions at the end of this section for more information.

To run this VM you need software such as VMWare workstation, fusion, player, or QEMU/XEN (after conversion). For the purposes of this guide VMWare player is used but if you already have software installed load "MajorBBS for Unix.vmx" in it and skip to the "Configure Network" section.

VMWare Player:

Download and Install VMWare player from the links below or skip this step if you have software to run VM's already installed.

Download VMWare Player:

http://www.filehippo.com/download_vmware_player/
http://www.vmware.com/go/downloadplayer/

NOTE: FileHippo requires no registration to download VMWare player.

Starting the Virtual Machine:

Browse to the directory you unzipped MBBSUNIX.RAR and open the directory named "MajorBBS for Unix VM".

Start the VM by Double clicking on the file named "MajorBBS for Unix.vmx"

NOTE: If VMWare player does not automatically load the VM there is probably an issue with the file associations for .vmx files on your system. You will need to manually load the VM by clicking Start -> All Programs -> VMWare -> VMWare Player, Then Open a Virtual Machine, browse to the directory you unzipped MBBS4UNIX.ZIP, open the directory named "MajorBBS for Unix VM", select the file named "MajorBBS for Unix.vmx", click Open and then click "Play virtual machine".

When asked if the virtual machine was moved or copied select copied and click ok.

When asked if you would like to install vmware tools click remind me later. The install is based on slackware 2.3/linux kernel 1.2.8 and vmware tools wont run on such an old version.

After a few seconds you'll see the virtual machine boot. When its finished you should see a login screen:

If you'd like to access the BBS on your network follow the Configure Networking section below. Otherwise skip to the Starting MajorBBS section.
Configure Networking:

If you want to telnet to MajorBBS for Unix you'll need to configure an unused ip address on your network in the Linux installation, configure that address in MajorBBS and then reboot the VM for the changes to take affect.

To configure networking information in linux at the "mbbsunix login:" prompt type "root" and press enter.

At the "mbbsunix:~#" prompt type "netconfig" and press enter.

Answer OK to the initial prompt.

Enter mbbsunix or anything else you'd like for the hostname.

Enter gcomm.com or any domain you'd like for the domain name.

Select "No" when asked if you plan to ONLY use loopback.

Enter an ununsed ip address on your local network for the local ip address.

Enter the appropriate gateway address for the network.

Enter the appropriate netmask for the netmask.

Answer Yes when asked if you will be accessing a nameserver.

Enter 4.2.2.3 or any other valid dns address for the nameserver.

Answer OK to the network setup complete prompt.

Type "reboot" and press enter when returned to the "mbbsunix:~#" to restart linux for the changes to take effect.

After linux reboots and returns to the "login:" prompt type majorbbs and press enter.

At the initial option screen type "4" and press enter at the "Enter choice:" prompt.

When the configuration options editor loads scroll down to option 444 "IPADDR" and change 192.168.1.100 to the address you configured in linux as the local ip address and press enter.

Press F10 to save and exit the configuration editor.

At the initial option screen type "5" and press enter to start MajorBBS.

Everything else at this point is pretty much straight forward MajorBBS with the exception of UDA's.


Starting MajorBBS for Unix:

To start MajorBBS at the "login:" prompt type "majorbbs" and press enter.

At the initial option screen type "5" and press enter.

The familiar MajorBBS screen will be displayed and after the system has loaded you can login locally by pressing "F7" and if you configured networking correctly you should be able to telnet to the address configured as the local ip address and see the MajorBBS welcome screen.

Everything else at this point is pretty much straight forward MajorBBS with the exception of UDA's.


User Defined Applications (UDAs):

UDAs are terminal mode Unix applications that when configured are accessible through the menuing system just like any other MajorBBS module or addon.

Configured UDA's:

With the exception of lynx all configured UDA's are games or applications included with Slackware 2.3. A full gcc 2.6.3 tool set is installed and operational if you want to compile something manually and configure it as a UDA.

Total there are 25 linux text games and 7 utilities currently configured as UDA's.

Add a new UDA:

Login as the majorbbs user and select option "2 Design Menu Tree".

Create a new menu option for the UDA:

Select the new menu page and change its type from "Menu Page" to "Module Page".

Set the module name to "User-Defined Application".

Set the Command String to whatever you'd like to name the UDA.

Press F10 to exit the menu editor and start MajorBBS by selecting option 5 from the initial option screen.

When MajorBBS loads login as sysop and from the main menu type u1 and press return to access the UDA management utility.

Select option "2" add a UDA.

When asked for the name of the UDA to add enter the same name you configured as the Command String.

Enter the key required to access the UDA (master, etc).

Enter the credit cost per minute (0, etc).

Enter the full path and command to the UDA (ex. /bin/ftp).

The application can now be accessed from the new menu option.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Does MajorBBS for Unix support MajorBBS for DOS modules and addons?

Unfortunately for whatever reason MajorBBS for Unix does not support the 16-bit PE DLL modules and addons that made the MajorBBS for DOS so popular. It introduced a new concept called UDAs or User Defined Applications which allow normal text mode Unix applications to be accessed and presented to BBS users through a menu option.

Why can't I install this on \insert any modern linux here\?

MajorBBS for Linux was distributed in the form of binary object files that were linked into a.out QMAGIC binaries during installation. Modern Linux kernels do support a.out binaries via binfmt_aout when enabled in the kernel. Unfortunately its impossible to link the included object files into an a.out binary on any modern linux.

The problem is the object files were created with an old 2.x version of gcc and so many changes were made to gcc over the years it is impossible to link them under any gcc version higher than 2.6.3 and ld higher than 2.5.2.

Will the other versions run on \insert unix here\?

BSDI, SCO, and Unixware for all intents and purposes are dead and abandoned.

OSF/1 still exists as Tru64 UNIX. Unknown but unlikely it will run the OSF/1 MajorBBS binaries compiled for Alpha.

Solaris is owned by oracle and still somewhat exists. The SPARC binaries definitely wont run and its unknown if the x86 binaries will but again it is unlikely.

Some people have pointed out that many of the distributed binaries are supported under FreeBSD/NetBSD/OpenBSD Binary Emulation but nobody is known to have tried to run or is running MajorBBS for Unix under them.

I want to try to run MajorBBS for Unix on \insert something here\?

Easy. Simply download the wg101unix.iso that's been floating around for the last 10+ years and have at it. Whoever created the ISO did a really bad job and all of the file names are renamed into 8.3 format so you'll have to look at the installation script currently named INSTA_AA to find the correct file names and rename the files accordingly.

You can take a look under /root/mbbs-orig-install/ directory in the VM to see what was done to get the linux installation working. Good luck!

Does the source code for the Unix port of MajorBBS exist?

At this time no known copies of the source code exist.

Is there anywhere to find out more information on MajorBBS for Unix?

Ken Maier who was part of the porting team has a nice website up accessable at: http://www.kenmaier.com/gcomm/mbbsunix.htm

Other information can be had in in usenet archives of alt.bbs.majorbbs and comp.bbs.majorbbs.

Historical Information:

Released on March 18 1995 MajorBBS for Unix (Codename: EUPHORIA) was a port of the popular DOS based BBS software to BSDI, Linux, OSF/1, SCO, Solaris and Unixware. It brought with it the familiar multiuser interaction, msg bases, file libraries and other functionality of the popular DOS MajorBBS system. The software was primarily marketed to business, education and goverment customers as an easy way to allow non-Unix users access to applications on Unix systems.

Although similar in look and function the port was totally incompatible with the DOS system and modules developed for it. Thus it was not well received or targeted to traditional MajorBBS sysops. The communities issues largely revolved around its inability to run the ever popular traditional DOS MajorBBS modules along with it's exorbitant price - $42,500 for 256 users!

It was never really known why the software was created or if it had any success in its intended market. There were only a few releases and then development of the product disappeared and very few public systems other than the demosys unix.gcomm.com ever ran the software. Although many have speculated why it was ported the most plausible reason to date is that it was created to fill a large government contract.

Whatever the reason rest assured galacticomm wouldn't have undertaken the time and expense to port the software without a guaranteed return on investment. In the end while interesting was little more than an expensive Unix menuing system with traditional MajorBBS message, file and other functionality which was already been surpassed by other applications at that time.

Whatever the reasons were that lead to the unix release internet usage was overtaking BBS's at a staggering rate and in just a few short years Tim Stryker would be gone, galacticomm would cease to exist and BBS's would fall by the wayside. The Unix port remains an interesting footnote in MajorBBS history and glacticomm was one of the few DOS BBS software companies who ported their software to Unix.

Path: nntp.gmd.de!Germany.EU.net!howland.reston.ans.net!news.sprintlink.net!tequesta.gate.net!munich.gcomm.com!munich.gcomm.com!not-for-mail
From: pr...@munich.gcomm.com (Galacticomm Press)
Newsgroups: comp.bbs.majorbbs,alt.bbs.majorbbs,alt.bbs,alt.bbs.allsysop,alt.bbs.internet,alt.bbs.unixbbs,comp.bbs.misc,comp.os.linux.admin,cybergate.linux,sco.opendesktop,comp.unix.solaris
Subject: ANNOUNCE: Price Promotion / Linux, SCO versions debut
Date: 18 Mar 1995 17:40:10 -0500
Organization: Galacticomm Inc. Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Lines: 65
Distribution: world
Message-ID: <3kfnga$ef5@munich.gcomm.com>
NNTP-Posting-Host: munich.gcomm.com


     Galacticomm debuts Linux and SCO versions of The Major BBS for UNIX;
             Price promotion and two new products also unveiled


     Ft.  Lauderdale, Fla., March 15 -- Galacticomm, Inc. strengthened its
commitment to the UNIX environment with the introduction of Linux and SCO
versions for its online interactive platform, The Major BBS for UNIX.  The
leading online software developer also unveiled a special limited-time price
promotion for its UNIX software, offering customers savings of up to 35%.
The company concluded the announcement by unveiling a new Spanish language
add-on option and an Entertainment Collection for its UNIX products.

     "With our added compatibility for Linux and SCO, the vast majority of
UNIX facilities will now be able to run our software on their current
operating system," says Galacticomm's President and CEO Scott Brinker.  "SCO
has a large share of the UNIX market and is the leading choice for
government agencies, while Linux is top-quality freeware with a tremendous
following among Internet users."

     The Major BBS for UNIX began shipping in January with support for two
operating systems -- BSD/OS 1.1 for the PC architecture and Solaris 2.3 for
SPARC platforms.  New versions are now available for the following:  BSD/OS
2.0, Solaris 2.4 x86, Linux 1.1 and SCO6 ODT 3.0.

SUBSTANTIAL SPRING SAVINGS

     As a limited-time promotion, Galacticomm is offering special
get-acquainted prices on all editions of The Major BBS for UNIX.  A new
four-line Linux edition is only $995 during this promotion.  The eight-line
versions are only $1,695, for a savings of $855.  A new 16-line version is
priced at $3,195 during the promotion.  Other line-counts are priced as
follows:

     LICENSE             DIRECT PRICE        PROMOTION PRICE

     32-user               $7,650               $5,895
     64-user               $13,600              $10,895
    128-user               $25,500              $20,195
    256-user               $42,500              $36,995

TWO NEW PRODUCTS

     The Major BBS for UNIX's multilingual/multiprotocol architecture can
support up to 50 simultaneous languages or graphical protocols.  The Spanish
Language Add-on Option ($295) takes advantage of this capability, and allows
users to choose Spanish as the language for messages and prompts they see on
the system.

     The Entertainment Collection ($495) transforms The Major BBS for UNIX
into a complete entertainment system.  The package includes a suite of text
adventure, ANSI-graphic and teleconference games.  The Action Teleconference
enhances the teleconference with action verbs for users.

     Galacticomm is a privately held Fort Lauderdale corporation.  The
company has been the leading developer of multi-user communications hardware
and online multi-user software since 1985.  Galacticomm products are
available from your favorite Galacticomm reseller or by calling Galacticomm
direct at (800) 328-1128 or (305) 583-5990, outside the U.S. and Canada.
The UNIX division can be reached via e-mail at u...@gcomm.com.  For a
hands-on demonstration of The Major BBS for UNIX, telnet to Galacticomm's
UNIX Demo System at unix.gcomm.com.  Galacticomm's World-Wide Web site on
the Internet can be reached by pointing your browser to
http://www.gcomm.com.

http://groups.google.com/group/comp.bbs.majorbbs/browse_thread/thread/5de294e728dd2fc0/67f72ad7bbaed5f1?q=Price+promotion+linux&lnk=ol&
  
From: k...@munich.gcomm.com (Ken Maier)
Subject: Re: WorldGroup For Unix
Date: 1995/09/06
Message-ID: <42kcte$rp7@munich.gcomm.com>#1/1
X-Deja-AN: 109606131
references: <42cve7$rnf@dns.cyberlink.bc.ca> 
organization: Galacticomm Inc. Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
newsgroups: comp.bbs.majorbbs

In article  wengl...@data-io.com (Bill England) writes:
>
>  Are you kidding!  I don't even have WorldGroup for Unix yet ...
>  It's still in alpha test mode last time I checked (About 10 min
>  ago.)

Yes.  You are correct.

>  Actually the slow arrivial of WG for UNIX is throwing my
>  schedual/plan a bit.  Anyone have any more concrete terms
>  on when it will be in Beta? or Charlie?

Bill,

Things have been moving rather quickly as far as the UNIX version of
Worldgroup is concerned.  Just so everyone is in sync, here's what
the latest scoop is:

  * The UNIX version of Worldgroup is scheduled to go into beta at the
    end of this week.  Existing UNIX version customers who have expressed
    interest in testing the product will receive the beta version.

  * Once out of beta, *ALL* existing UNIX version customers will receive
    a free upgrade.

  * Distribution will be on CD-ROM and 1/4" cartridge tape.  

  * The Multimedia Extensions (in beta for both the DOS and UNIX versions
    of Worldgroup) will be available as a free download off our Demo Systems.

  * The operating systems supported by this Worldgroup for UNIX release
    include:   Solaris 2.3/2.4 (SPARC only), Unixware 2.x, Linux 1.1+,
    SCO ODT 3.0, BSD/OS 2.0 and OSF/1 (Alpha)

  * User licenses do not follow the 6-pack scheme, but are rather fixed
    license increments:   8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256

  * We will be offering a 100% credit on DOS baselines for those of you
    who would like to switch.  The conversion process requires you to 
    turn-in your DOS product for an equivalent or higher UNIX user license.
    (You pay the difference and shipping)   A conversion program is 
    available that migrates your Menu Tree and all system/user data from
    DOS to UNIX.

  * Developer Kit information will follow in the near future.

If anyone has any further questions, by all means mail or call me.  I can
be reached at "ma...@gcomm.com" or 305/583-5990.

Take care.

-ken

Ken Maier
Director, Galacticomm UNIX Division
-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ken Maier (ma...@gcomm.com)                                 Tel: 305/583-5990
Galacticomm, Inc.                                           Fax: 305/583-7846
UNIX Technology Division                                http://www.gcomm.com/ 

http://groups.google.com/group/comp.bbs.majorbbs/msg/3e1d873d1e66bac2?dmode=source

Notes from 03/27/95:

UNIX Division Update

March 20, 1995 through March 27, 1995

The Major BBS for UNIX -------------------------------------------------

     The final beta test for the additional operating systems is slowly
     drawing to a close.  We are shooting for a final release date 
     towards the end of the first week of April.  Outstanding items
     that will need to be taken care of over the next two weeks:
               (1)  Box labels for SCO/LINUX (Linda/Cindy)
               (2)  SKUs for SCO/LINUX (Richard/Peter)

     Since the initial release of the UNIX version, we've addressed
     some problems that should be included in shipping product. Before
     the beta versions ship, a release meeting needs to be scheduled
     with Bert/Richard to make sure everything is in sync.  A date for
     this will be announced shortly.

     We really need to figure out how we want to handle CD-ROM support.
     The outstanding issue on this is to find a format that will work
     on every operating system we are planning to support.

     A press release announcing the new pricing, SCO and Linux ports
     is being met with some harsh criticism.  The crowds don't mind
     the new operating systems, but they are being quite vocal over the
     pricing.  The thread has become so popular that it almost took
     over the entire forum at one point.  I'm in the process of replying
     to select posts right now and we shall see what happens over the
     next week or so.  

     Mahesh didn't head to Boston with Bert/Bob, but he will be going
     to a SUN technical seminar on Thursday/Friday of this week.
     This will be for multi-thread design and development.

     In order to obtain more add-ons for the UNIX version, we have been
     looking at doing ports of TPD add-ons ourselves.  As a test, we
     tried the "Guess What?" and "Yahtzee" modules... Craig converted
     these and we'll decide this week if it is "safe" to spend 
     additional time porting add-ons for a fee.
     
     Overall, tech support for the UNIX version has not been too
     "intense" thus far.  One customer had a really awkward setup
     that was difficult for us to help him with... He wasn't too 
     please with how complex it was to configure everything (it's
     the result of his setup), so we extended his free support for 
     another 30 days as a "good faith" measure to keep him happy.
     

MARKETING --------------------------------------------------------------

     I'll have to dig through my incoming mailbox to see if Linux
     Journal sent out a media kit.  The quick glance that I made
     while in on the weekend didn't turn up what I was hoping for.

     Dihan has some updated press releases that I will post on the 
     WWW server and Internet when I get into the office tomorrow.

     Craig will be starting with the second run of callbacks this
     week.  Towards the end of the week (or earlier) I will go 
     through the FOSE leads that we picked up.  We're gonna try 
     getting as much as we can this week to help bump sales up.

DOCUMENTATION ----------------------------------------------------------
     Target dates for documentation are as follows:

         Entertainment Collection (markup):  March 31, 1995
         Developer Docs (partial markup):    April 5, 1995
         Entertainment Collection (final):   April 5, 1995
         Developer Docs (final):             April 19, 1995

FOSE -------------------------------------------------------------------

     The Crowds
     ----------
     It appeared that most of the people attending the show were
     Government employees (end-users).  Overall I would say traffic
     in our booth was steady, but there were some noticable lulls.
     I was a little shocked at the lack of SCO questions/customers --
     most people interested in the UNIX version were running Solaris.
     
     I was very impressed with the technical nature of the people
     that did stop by and ask UNIX questions.  There were a good
     percentage of them that knew what they were talking about, and
     knew exactly what they were looking for.  Some of them ran
     TEAMate and thought what we had was a better deal.

     The popular item at the show was Worldgroup, and I can't tell 
     you how anxious I am to get client/server support integrated
     into the UNIX version (that has been the #1 question lately).
     A *lot* of people stopped by the booth to see Worldgroup (or 
     they had heard rumors of a MS-Windows product and wanted to
     see what it was).  Everyone who saw it was impressed.

     I had two people give me a "lecture" on the advantage of the
     Web over a BBS. One person was swayed by my position, but the
     other seemed to be a little planted with his views.  

     Most people didn't seem to object at the pricing of the
     UNIX version.  There were two customers that I can remember
     that balked at the pricing of the Linux version.

     Hardware
     --------
     We experienced all sorts of interesting problems with the
     hardware.  The machines left our offices in a semi-stable
     configuration, but the ride up to FOSE managed to jiggle them
     around enough to keep us busy fixing things. (The machines
     appeared to be tossed around so much that Jeff and I opened
     up systems to find loose cards and drive cables pull off the
     connectors -- a feat even difficult for sober humans )
 
     Each machine (except the ICO server) had its share of problems
     that required unscrewing the machine and diving into it with
     a good share of patience and luck.

     Internet Connection
     -------------------
     This is a long story, but the shrot of it is that the 
     connection never actually worked in our booth.  The connection
     physically was not working on the show floor until the middle
     of the first day, and the Internet guys didn't get out to our
     booth to debug our line until the second day. I have to give
     one of the employees credit (Brad) for hanging in there and 
     trying to help as much as he could, but everything we tried
     didn't work.  I managed to bug these guys so much about our
     connection that they knew who I was (and so did the security
     guard stationed at the front of their room).  

     The bright side of the story is that we had cabling in the
     booth that permitted us to run our demos and the only thing
     missing was the ability to access our home system and perform
     WWW demonstrations.

     Summary
     -------
     Based on the hardware experiences, I've got all sorts of suggestions
     on how we might be able to make our lives a little easier
     the next time around.  When Linda gets back, we should have a 
     pow-wow to discuss this.  I'm glad to hear that dedicated
     machines are on the list of things to look at.

     Was FOSE worth the trip?  It's going to be hard to quantify
     the results since I don't believe sales is a direct indication
     of success. We could have had a better spot on the show floor,
     but I think the people who *did* stop by the booth helped us:
 
       (1) determine what the public wants,
       (2) develop mindshare

     Is #2 important?  Sure!  It's really awesome to be able to walk
     into a room with a Gcomm shirt on and have people know who you
     (the company) are!  It seemed like the people you least expect
     know Galacticomm were the ones going, "Hey!  I know who you guys
     are!"  Something is being done right... that's for sure! :)

     [Don't get me wrong though... I think we have a few sales out
      of this show]

PLANNED PURCHASES ------------------------------------------------------
     1)  Faircom database tools
            I'll have to check if they've sent me anything while I've
            been gone.

     2)  SCO Operating System
            Mike Julson might be able to get us a discount on this. I'll
            check back with him when I return.

     3)  Postscript printer
            On hold.

OPERATING SYSTEM UPDATE ------------------------------------------------

     We are tracking down strange system pauses under BSD/OS 2.0.  Not
     quite sure what the problem is just yet, but we have debugging
     code online to help narrow things down.  Also fixed a bug if
     the filesystems was over 2Gb.

TRAVEL -----------------------------------------------------------------

      [Mahesh]   -- Will be in Atlanta March 31st for a SUN developers
                   seminar (on multi-threading).

MISC -------------------------------------------------------------------

     * UNIX FAQ -- Going to write the section on terminal servers when
                   I return from FOSE.  Based on the comments in the
                   newsgroups, I'm going to include prices for the UNIX
                   version.  This should help people make a decision
                   fairly quickly if price is an issue.

     * WWW --      Bob mentioned that the WWW server is responding 
                   well!  I'll be updating some documents and checking
                   this week.


Internal Q/A:

Q: How much is it?

A: Pricing is not available at this time. Galacticomm will be releasing
detailed information on pricing and support at a later date.

--------------
Q: When will it be shipping?

A: 4th quarter this year (1994).

--------------
Q: What is it?

A: A complete implementation of The Major BBS for the UNIX operating
system. It provides all the baseline BBS features plus additional
features that are not included in the DOS package. These features
include:
o TELNET
o FTP
o "Internet" E-mail
o USENET Message Importing into Local Forums
o User Defined Application add-on
o More than 256 users (in a future release)
--------------
Q: What is a User Defined Application (UDA)?

A: To provide flexibility for the Sysop, EUPHORIA provides the capability
to add any text-based program as an add-on. The Sysop will be able to
do this through a special Module Page setup. A subset of the system
Text Variables will be available to pass as parameters to the UDA.

This will be the easiest, and fastest method for applications such as
Lynx, Gopher, Archie and custom applications to be added to the BBS.
--------------
Q: What platforms does it run on?

A: The first version will run on:
o BSD/386 1.1 (Intel)
o Solaris 2.3 (SPARC)
--------------
Q: What is the difference between various UNIX systems?

A: UNIX History:

o Originally designed in 1969 by AT&T Bell Labs
o In 1975, the operating system became widely available to the public
o The CS Dept at University of California at Berkeley made changes
and additions to it.
o Two "main" versions developed:
AT&T System V
BSD (Berkeley Software Distribution)
o Modifications of these have developed over the years for each
hardware vendor, but they all are grouped under the term "UNIX"
--------------
Q: Does it support UUCP?

A: EUPHORIA will talk with the program that handles the delivery of mail
on the UNIX system. If UUCP is installed on the UNIX system, and UUCP
is configured to "talk" with the mail delivery program, EUPHORIA will
have no problems sending messages via UUCP.
--------------
Q: Does it support NNTP?

A: EUPHORIA does not have built-in support for NNTP. In order for users
to read USENET articles, EUPHORIA will have to import the articles into
the local Forum area. Must already have news running on local system.
--------------
Q: Does it support SMTP?

A: As with UUCP, if SMTP is configured for mail delivery, EUPHORIA will
be able to support it by "talking" to the mail delivery program on
the UNIX system.
--------------
Q: Does it support ....

A: o WWW
Yes - via a UDA running Lynx
o Gopher
Yes - via a UDA
o WAIS
Yes - via a UDA
o HYTELNET
Yes - via a UDA

Any text-based application will be supported as a UDA -- even applications
on remote computers (accessed via shell scripts). Does this mean we are
multi-host? No... :)
--------------
Q: What is the X Window System?

A: X is a hardware indepent windowing system that is commonly found under
UNIX. It is designed to work over a networked environment and permits
applications running on one system, to be transparently displayed on
the other. X is completely customizable, right down to the look and feel
of the window manager itself.
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Q: Do I need X to run EUPHORIA?

A: Yes, but it is only required on non-intel platforms and it's only for
Sysops and not users. EUPHORIA provides a text-based interface for
Sysops but the X interface is recommended because of its flexibility.

Using X, Sysops will be able to "attach" to the main console whenever
they wish. The console itself will appear in a window on the computer
they are currently sitting in front of. Since X is network "aware",
Sysops will be able to display the console on other computer running
X which are a few feet, or thousands of miles away.

This is truely *remote maintenance*. :)

An example of this will be given as the best example.
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Q: How can my users connect to the BBS?

A: Users will be able to connect through direct modems, via network
connections (TCP/IP) or via terminal servers.
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Q: What kind of file transfer speeds will we get?

A: Who knows.
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Q: How is it different than TEAMate, Z/Max, Coconet?

A: The initial version of EUPHORIA will not necessarily outshine our
competitors in all areas. They've had the jump on us by a few years
in the UNIX market.

TEAMate : Number one competitor, full email, forums, also
import USENET in current release. File transfer
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