        ͻ
                                                    Ŀ
              K E E P I N G   I N   T O U C H        
                      
            SPITFIRE Monthly Support Newsletter      
              for registered SPITFIRE Sysops!        
                        August 1995                  
           Compliments of BUFFALO CREEK SOFTWARE     
             Buffalo Creek's BBS * 515-225-8496      
                   28800 through 1200 Bps            
                          2 Nodes                    
                                                     
        ͼ 
          
                    Edited by Jacque Shipley
       The Mother Board BBS - (515) 986-3464 - 57600 Bps
                Sysop Of The Month by Walt Crede
      Roam This Fertile Land -  (515) 288-8755 - 14400 Bps
         Newly Registered SPITFIRE BBS List by Ann Woltz
                  Other Contributions As Noted


ͻ
    Notes from the author of SPITFIRE!   Ŀ
ͼ 
  


Let's finish SPITFIRE v3.51
---------------------------

   The time has come and gone when SPITFIRE v3.51 should have been
finished and released.  There are basically just a couple of more
things which I want to change/add to SPITFIRE v3.51 before it is
released.

   Thus, I would like to expand the SPITFIRE v3.51 test team.  In the
event you would like to test SPITFIRE v3.51 during the last part of
development, then please leave me a message on Buffalo Creek's BBS.
Being part of the test team is hard work when it is performed
correctly.  Some people think that beta testing software provides the
'right' to suggest (or demand) certain changes/additions.  Not so.
Testing is testing.  Testing is hard work when it is performed
correctly.  Each change/addition has to be completely tested.  Some
people think that a report is only necessary when something doesn't
work right.  Not so.  A report of your test results have to be made.
How would I know when things work correctly if positive reports are
not made.

   The expansion of the SPITFIRE v3.51 test team will be made on the
first come/first serve basis.

   Additionally, we need to have the SPITFIRE v3.51 documentation
proof-read.  In the event you are willing to perform such
proof-reading, then please contact Jacque Shipley.

   SPITFIRE v3.51 will be released once the final changes/additions
are made to SPITFIRE v3.51 and properly tested.  Thank you for you
help.

   Until next time, smile on your brother, everybody get together
and try to love one another.


                            Best wishes...
                            Mike Woltz

                            [ I Peter 3:9 ]ͻ
                             Not rendering evil for evil, or railing Ŀ
                             for railing, but on the contrary,        
                             blessing, knowing that ye are called     
                             to this, that ye should inherit a        
                             blessing.                                
                            ͼ 
                              

͸
 RUNNING SPITFIRE IN WINDOWS 95 
;

   Never has the pending release of a software product been promoted
so intensely.  Computer users across the country, in fact, across the
world, waited with great anticipation for the arrival of August 24th
and the release of Windows 95.  Undoubtedly, there are SPITFIRE Sysops
who will want to run SPITFIRE with Windows 95.  Mark Pospisil, Sysop of
Popsicle's Place, has been gracious enough to put together a help file 
to assist other SPITFIRE Sysops with the setup information necessary for
running SPITFIRE in Windows 95.


   This file is written to assist in some settings that may be
helpful in establishing a SPITFIRE BBS running Windows 95.  It is not
meant to supersede either the SPITFIRE documentation or the Windows
help files. It is being written to provide assistance only.  I hope it 
will be of some use.

   Ok let's see if we can get started.  First you need Windows 95
loaded on your machine otherwise nothing I'm about to tell you will
help at all.  The second thing you need to be aware of is every time
you make a change to the way a program runs under Windows 95, it will
have the same abilities or disabilities the next time you run that
program.

   For most things you do in Win95, there are two or more ways to get
to the same place.  I am going to attempt to get you where you need to
go via the shortest route.  You should be reading this document from a
DOS windows or Windows notepad or Write.  Any of these will do the trick.
From the desktop, you should have some icons on the desktop already.
This document should be in a window so that you may read and do
things at the same time.

1.  Double Click on the icon that says "My Computer".
    This should give you a window with representations of all your drives,
    network connections, CD drives and floppies drives that you have on 
    your machine.  At the bottom of that screen you should see an icon that
    says "Control Panel".

2.  Double Click on the "Control Panel" Icon.
    Now. close My Computer group by clicking on the X box at the top right
    corner.  Inside Control panel there is an icon that says "System" at the
    bottom of that group.

3.  Double Click on the "System" Icon.
    Now, close Control Panel by clicking the X at the top right corner.
    You should have a panel showing a monitor and describing your
    computer.  At the top you should have what look like file folder tabs.
    Click the one that says "Device Manager".  This should give you a screen
    that shows all the components of your computer.  Near the bottom of
    that list you should see a place that says Ports (COM&LPT).  Click on
    the small box with the X in it that is in front of ports. That will 
    extend the list of ports to show all the COM and LPT ports you have 
    installed on your machine.

4.  Double Click on the port your modem is installed on.
    This will give you another folder describing your port.  At the top
    of the folder you should see the tab marked "Port Settings".

5.  Click the "Port settings" tab.
    Here you can adjust your port speed settings.  Bits per second, data
    bits, parity, stop bits, and flow control.

    A.  Bits per second _____________      for a 14.4 modem use 19200
                                           for a 28.8 modem use 38400
        some programs may be unpredictable if you have your port speed set 
        too high.  Not to mention, if you are using a fossil driver, it will
        cut back your port speed to what you specify there anyway.

    B.  Data bits 8

    C.  Parity None

    D.  Stop bits 1

    E.  Flow Control ________________      if you have a hardware error
        correcting modem set it to Hardware otherwise set it to Software. 
        "Don't use NONE!"  SPITFIRE may start doing strange things.

    At the bottom of the screen you have a button that says "Advanced".

6.  Click the "Advanced" button.
    At the top left of the Advanced Port Settings there is a box that is
    in front of the sentence:
    
    Use FIFO buffers (requires 16550 compatible Uart)

    A.  If you have a hardware error correcting modem check this box.
        If you do not have a hardware error correcting modem skip to D.

    B.  Receive Buffer                     move this to High (14)

    C.  Transmit Buffer                    move this to High (16)

    D.  Click OK

7.  At The bottom of the Port Setting page there is an OK button.  Click on
    it.
    At the bottom of System Properties there is an OK button.   Click on it.

    Whew, the first part is done.  Time for a smoke and a cup of coffee. 
    Ok, times up.  Time to go back to work.

    I am going to go through this next part as if you have not run a BBS
    under Windows in the past so experience users bare with me.

    On the bottom left corner of your screen you should see a button with the
    Windows flag that says START.

1.  Click On Start.
    This will give you a list of things currently available to work with
    that are setup on your machine.  You should see an icon that says
    settings.

2.  Highlight "Settings".
    This will open another box with three other icons.  One of these will
    say Task Bar.

3.  Double Click on "Task Bar".
    This will open a folder that has two tabs at the top.  One says "Start
    Menu Programs".

4.  Click on "Start Menu Programs".
    This folder has three buttons.  One of these say "Add".

5.  Click on "Add".
    You should have a box where you can put the name of the program or use
    the browse button.  Type the full path to and the name of your SPITFIRE
    batch file, ie., C:\SF\SF.BAT in the box.  This should enable the button
    on the bottom of that page saying "Next".

6.  Click "Next".
    This will give you a listing of all the program folders on your taskbar
    find the one that says "Startup".

    If a Startup folder does not exist you can create it by clicking on
    the button that says "New Folder".  When it gives you a box to enter the
    name of the group type in "StartUp".  The new folder will be added to
    the startup menu.  When you hit the button that says Next, it will
    automatically put SPITFIRE in the program name box.  The "Finish" button
    will appear at the bottom of the folder.  Click on "Finish".  The next
    time Win95 starts, any program in the startup folder will automatically
    run.

7.  Click On the "Startup" folder.
    This will add SPITFIRE to the startup folder.  You will see a button 
    that says "Finish".

8.  Click "Finish".

   Now that SPITFIRE is on the menu we can make a few more minor adjustments.

1.  Click the "Start" button.

2.  Go to the "Programs" icon on the start menu.

3.  Go to the "StartUp" selection on the menu.   "SPITFIRE" will show up in 
    the last bar.

4.  Double click on "SPITFIRE" to start the program.
    At this point SPITFIRE should initialize in a DOS window.  Using a mouse
    and clicking the top left corner on the SPITFIRE window will give you the
    program pull down menu.  At the bottom of the menu you will see a line
    that says Properties.

5.  Click on "Properties".
    This will give you a multi page folder.  The first page gives the paths
    to SPITFIRE and the name of the batch file.  Towards the bottom of the
    first screen there is a box that says Close on exit.

    A. Check the Close on exit box.

    B. There is an Advanced button on this first screen.  Click on Advanced.

    C. Suggest MS-DOS mode as necessary should be checked. Click OK.
       You can change the icon from here if you wish.  At the top of the
       folder you should see a tab that says "Memory".

    D. Click on the "Memory" Tab.
       This will give you a page with four areas.

       1.  Conventional memory.
           Total leave at Auto environment leave at Auto add a check to
           the Protect box.

       2.  Expanded (EMS) memory.
           Don't make any changes.

       3.  Extended (XMS) memory.
           Should be set to None since SPITFIRE doesn't use it.

       4.  MS-DOS protected-mode (DPMI) memory.
           Leave this set to Auto.

    At the the top of the folder there is a tab that says "Misc".

    E.  Click on "Misc".
        This will give you a screen with eight options.  Be careful in this
        area as you can adversely effect the operation of SPITFIRE in this
        screen.

        1.  Foreground Operation.
            Remove check from allow Screen Saver.  Windows screen savers 
            will keep SPITFIRE from answering calls.

        2.  Background.
            Remove check from always suspend.  If you don't remove this
             check SPITFIRE will lock anytime it is not on top.

        3.  Idle Sensitivity.
            Put the slide bar all the way to the left at "Low".   This will
            give SPITFIRE the clock cycles it need to continue working
            properly even in the background.

        4.  In the Mouse area you have two blocks.

            a. Quick Edit.
               Take the check off.  Windows editors don't work on SPITFIRE.

            b. Exclusive Mode.
               Take the check mark off here.  SPITFIRE doesn't use a mouse.

        5.  Termination
            "Warn if still active" should be checked.  If we try to click
            on the X box on the top right corner of the DOS Window you
            will be told that SPITFIRE is still active and ask if you
            are sure you want to terminate the program and to do so may
            risk losing important data.

        6.  Other.
            "Fast Paste", remove the check.  There is nothing in SPITFIRE we 
            need to copy to the Windows Clipboard.

        7.  Windows Shortcut Keys.
            The only one we need checked is "Alt+Enter".  This is how we
            switch SPITFIRE from a DOS Window to full screen.  If you
            remove this check mark you will end up putting SPITFIRE
            full screen and not be able to get it back to a window so
            you can do other things without shutting down SPITFIRE.

            At the bottom of the folder page there is a button that says
            Apply.

        8.  Click Apply.
            This will close the properties @applet.


   Congratulations you have you have successfully completed your
mission of setting the properties required to run SPITFIRE with
Windows 95.  I hope this has been of some help.

   If you need additional assistance in setting up SPITFIRE and Win
95 I will be more than happy to share my limited experience with this
endeavor.  You are more than welcome to contact me Mon. through Fri.
6:30 PM until 11:00 PM, Sat. Sun.  and Holidays 07:30 AM until 11:30
PM at:

                      Popsicle's Place BBS 
                      Node 1 (817)-690-3865
                      Node 2 (817)-690-3294

                      SFNet Node A0817000
                      Mark Pospisil

                      Or Voice (817)-690-2496

   If you find any further information or better setting please pass
the information along to me.  I'm trying to collect as many helpful
hints as possible for other SPITFIRE sysops.

   Thank you for taking the time to read this and I hope it has been of
some help.

                           Popsicle
                           SFNet Windows Moderator. Running Windows 95.


͸
 SPITFIRE BOARD-OF-THE-MONTH 
;

                                Gary Henry
                             The Skeletons Closet
                                501-933-2027
                               SFNet A0501000

   Imagine my surprise as I logged on to the BBS one day to check my
messages.  There it was, a message from Jacque saying I had been
chosen as a SPITFIRE board of the month.  Amazing!  Incredible!  What
have I done to deserve such an honor?   I have only been fooling
around with IBM computers for about three years, and only had a board
up for about six months!  It's certainly been an interestingly busy
six months.  Anyway, I've been dealing with computers for about 14
years. I am 26 years old now, but I still remember the first computer
I ever had was an old Atari 800XL.  I guess the first one I ever
played around with was a TI.  Man, not a whole lot to those babies
back then.  As I got more interested, I moved up to an Atari 520 ST.
Man, I really thought I had some power there.  512K of memory.  Man,
I'd surely never need more than that at my disposal.  But as games
got bigger and better, it seemed Atari stuff got less and less
popular.  I opted for a change.

   So, I got my Uncle to work a deal with me on a wonderful 286.  40
meg hd, 12 MHZ of blazing speed.  I was really moving now.  I then
started to fiddle around with this modem thing inside.  Discovered
what really cool things you could do with the computer and just your
fingertips.  I spent many a late night playing games and posting
messages in conferences that reached all over the world.  This is the
coolest thing in the world,  I thought to myself.  After conquering a
few games, and downloading a few hundred megs of files, I thought,
"It'd be really neat if I could get one of these BBS's all for
myself."  So, out of the ten or so boards in my area, it seemed
Remote Access was the BBS software of choice.  I downloaded it and
gave it a whirl.  Some of the stranger things to get working (aside
from mailers and Usurper) was this darn BBS stuff.  Remote Access
took on a whole new meaning for me.  It came to mean that I had a
remote chance of accessing this BBS software and getting it running
right.  So, after a few weeks I scrapped it and decided maybe running
a board wasn't for me.

   Then, one day I decided I was tougher to lick than that, so I
thought I'd give it a whirl one more time.  But, I decided on a new
twist.  Try something no one else was using at the time.  I began
searching for BBS software and bingo!  There it was.  SPITFIRE!
Sounded like a good program to me, so I downloaded the files and
tried it out.  It was truly amazing, the ease of setting it up and
the documentation.  It was almost like getting one of those
inflatable life rafts and pulling the deal and BAM!  There it was,
ready for action!  I was truly awestruck.  No weeks worth of reading
to figure out the mundane documents.  It was basically ready to go. I
was truly impressed.

   Now, six months later I have a wonderful message system (without
the muss or fuss of any greek written mailers) that has a great
little QWK compatible dude for all the mailing duties (I liked it so
much I decided to become the area code hub), several door games that
run wonderfully, and several happy users that make sure to call every
day!  Needless to say Mike Woltz helped me with any and every problem
I had with the utmost of courtesy and friendliness, as well as his
family (His wife even gave me a number to reach him out of town,
where he was teaching).  And not to mention the whole other group of
SPITFIRE Sysops helping me out on SFNET just mere days after I
posted.  One in particular, Mark Pospisil, even went so far as to
waste part of his evening to help me with my windows woes.  Thanks
Mark and all who posted to me to help out!

   Needless to say, I am very satisfied and get a great deal of
enjoyment out every minute of this software.  Keep up the great work
Mike and all the others who write the 3rd party files to help out and
make SPITFIRE the BEST software there is around.

Take care, God Bless, and Keep on Spittin' Fire!


͸
 SPITFIRE SYSOP-OF-THE-MONTH 
;        

                           Jereomy Frum
                        The NIAS Network BBS
                            402-496-1785

   The NIAS Network started sometime early February 1991.  My
grandparents told me they would purchase a computer for me after I
finished trade school.  I ended up with an Epson 386SX with a 100 meg
Conner drive and 2 megs of ram.  In those days that was a pretty nice
system.  I started with some other brand of software ( I won't
mention any names) and quickly switched over to SPITFIRE because the
first brand wanted money for every little feature.  There were many
people involved in getting NIAS off the ground.  Most have come and
gone but they will always be remembered.

   Many people have also asked me what NIAS stood for.  I have a
different reply each time.  On one occasion I asked the user base
what they thought NIAS stood for.  The best response was "<N>o <I>dea
<A>sk <S>ysop.  All of the results are posted on the BBS for all to
see.  Actually NIAS was just a nickname I had many moons ago in
elementary school.  There is a story behind it but it isn't important
now.

   NIAS is owned by myself but pretty much operated by the user base.
Many of the doors are operated by users who have donated them to the
BBS.  The users often have a better feel on how a door should be run
and it keeps them involved.  Many of the decisions made for NIAS are
made by a popular vote of the user base.  There are very few
complaints that way.

   Automation is a must for somebody who is as busy as I am.  There are
times when I can not get to the BBS for a week.  The hard drives are
compressed weekly in the middle of the night, the mail runs start
just after midnight and the BBS starts talking if it has any troubles
with the modem.  If I go on vacation it is nice to know that I can
play a mod file to clap the lights on and clap the lights off every
night.  At one point NIAS beeped me on my digital pager on certain
occasions (the mail run was stuck or a particular user was on-line).

   Today NIAS is running on the exact same system as when it started.  I
have added items to it here and there but it is pretty much the same
setup.  Later this year I will start networking with a Pentium (now
accepting bids) that will have plenty of hard drive space and more
memory than I do.  I will eventually add a second node (and who knows
maybe even a third one) hopefully by Christmas.  NIAS is still a free
BBS and I plan to stay that way.  I do have problems turning down
donations so I accept these now.

   Most of my friends, my knowledge of PC's and even my job are a result
of NIAS.  I do not think my grandparents had this kind of usage in
mind for the computer they bought me but when you stop and think
about it, I have come along way and I never forget where I have been
and how I got there.

   Thanks Mike!  The next time you are passing through at least honk.





͸
  NEWLY REGISTERED SPITFIRE SYSTEMS 
;

   A hearty welcome is extended to the following, who have
recently become public registered SPITFIRE Bulletin Board Systems:

The Forty Two BBS.............................916-348-3067...14400 BPS
Jeff Betz, Sysop...........................North Highlands, California

"EDESIGN".....................................216-992-1660...14400 BPS
Edward Dana, Sysop.....................................Ashtabula, Ohio

Red Dust BBS..................................913-599-0194...14400 BPS
James Blakeslee II, Sysop........................Overland Park, Kansas

Visual Grafix BBS.............................803-306-0134...14400 BPS
Sean Miller, Sysop..............................Easley, South Carolina

Star BBS......................................404-271-3392...14400 BPS
Richard Latty, Sysop...........................Flowery Branch, Georgia

The Studio..................................+64-4-499-6954...14400 BPS
Glenn Caulfield, Sysop.........................Wellington, New Zealand

Petrie's Place................................508-393-1731...14400 BPS
Dan Petrie, Sysop.............................Northboro, Massachusetts

The Tactical Advantage BBS....................520-747-9927...14400 BPS
Bill Spanburgh, Sysop..................................Tucson, Arizona


     In addition, there are 5 new private SPITFIRE BBS Systems
registered.  These private SPITFIRE BBS were registered to Sysops in:
Sumner, Washington; Alliance, Ohio; Colfax, North Carolina; Athens,
Alabama; and Atlanta, Georgia.


     There are 8 registrations for whom registration information  
was incomplete.  These included BBS's in: Perris, California; New
Orleans, Louisiana; Wilmington, Delaware; Valrico, Florida; Myrtle
Beach, South Carolina; Surrey, British Columbia, Canada; Sedalia,
Missouri; and Tyne and Wear, England.

     The increase in registrations where information is incomplete is
largely due to Buffalo Creek's Software's policy of accepting on-line
Mastercard and Visa credit card registrations.


     JUST A REMINDER...the newsletter is always looking for
contributions!  Please forward any articles in ASCII text to either
Buffalo Creek's BBS or The Mother Board BBS.
