Concord vO.O1 Public Gamma-5 Apr, 1997 ------------------------------------------------------------ README.DOC _ ÜÛÛÛÛÜ (_) ÛÛß ßÛ CONCORD BBS SOFTWARE ÛÛÛ Þ Þ vO.O1 Gamma-5 ÛÛÛ ' ÞÝ Û ÛÛÛÜ ÜÜÜÛÝ ÄÄÜ ÄÄÜ ÜÄÄ ÄÄÜ ÜÄÜ ÄÄÛ ßÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛßß ÞÝ ÞÝÛ ÞÝÞÝ ÞÝ ÞÝÛ ÞÝ Û ßßßßßß ßßß ß ß ßßß ßßß ß ßßß This is the fifth public gamma release of the Concord BBS software. Though this still is a gamma test release, there should not be that many bugs left anymore. The biggest inconvencies are described in GAMMA-5.BUG file. Because this release was again put out months later than the original plans suggested due to my fulltime job and studies and personal life, I have considered even more releasing new beta-a-like public versions (patches) much more often in the future, making the difference between beta team and public releases less clear. Concord is released under Shareware concept which means that you can test the software for limited time period (3 months in this case) before making your decision to buy the software. All features can fully be used without limitations already in this evaluation copy. Support, however, cannot be guaranteed for unregistered users. Please see files HOWTOREG.TXT and SUPPORT.LST for registration and support information. Concord support team information : SUPPORT.LST Concord registration information : HOWTOREG.TXT Concord documents : CONCORD.DOC Concord what's new : GAMMA-5.NEW Concord known bugs list : GAMMA-5.BUG EVALUATION NOTE! This version requires a key file (*.KEY) to operate. The evaluation key file has to be renewed from time to time in order to keep the software working. The key file that is included with this Gamma package, is valid until August 1st 1997 when it expires and stops working. You can obtain a new key file from any of the registration sites listed in the Concord documents. Registering Concord will get you a key that does not expire until version 1.99 is released, which is still long time ahead, and will reduce your efforts always searching for a new evaluation key. HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS Concord requires at least AT 286 processor, 500 KB free conventional memory, about 10 MB disk space and a Hayes compatible modem to operate. However, it is suggested to run Concord in a 386SX or preferable better with at least 2 MB total memory to have a disk cache to speed up operations. SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS MS-DOS 3.3 or later, or 100% compatible, or OS/2 2.1 or later. SHARE must be loaded and FILES= setting needs to be at least 40. Fossil driver (X00, BNU, SIO, etc.) Compression utility software (PKZIP, ARJ, etc.) External transfer protocol software (DSZ, HS/LINK, SMODEM, etc.) It is also suggested to have an external message editor software (QUICKED, GEDIT, etc.) To join your BBS system to echo and net mail networks such as FidoNet, you will also need a mailer (FrontDoor, Portal of Power, etc.) and tosser software (Gecho, Fastecho, etc.) The rest is completely up to you. SOFTWARE INFORMATION Concord was compiled with Borland Pascal v7.01 (DOS-versions) and Virtual Pascal v1.10 (OS/2-version). The source code consists of about 110.000 lines, divided to over 200 files taking up about 4 MB of disk space. Then, of course, all the miscellaneous files like language files, script files, ANSI files, menu files, etc. should be added to get the true amount of information stored with Concord. DOCUMENTS Many thanks to Frank Hemmelder for preparing the English documents till Gamma-2, Eddy Matthews for taking the work over and rewriting the English documents to Gamma-5 and Ralf Amrhein for writing the German documents and FAQ. VERSION NUMBERING It may sound funny to see some software whose version number is still O.O1 Gamma-5 even though this is already the 31st Concord release (the fifth gamma release, the rest have been beta versions) during the four years that have been spent developing Concord so far. "Alpha" versions are my own private testing versions of which I never keep any log. "Beta" versions are those that I have qualified to be distributed for the beta team members for use in their own systems. After long time of testing the software, "Gamma" and "Official" versions can be publicly released for everyone's use. The number after "Alpha", "Beta" and "Gamma" stands for the sequential version number in each series. Then I've just added O.O1 in the beginning of all of this... Perhaps later it's going to change to 1.OO and even higher but not just yet. VERSION DIFFERENCES REAL PROT OS/2 Can use system memory up to 640K 16M 4G Bits 16 ~32 32 Run-time error checking vs. standard errors û û û Run-time error checking vs. GPF - û û DPMI driver required - û - DOS û û - Windows û û - OS/2 û û û ECHO MAIL MESSAGE AREAS Concord support echo mail area is connected to Fidonet backbone, you can ask for CONCORD from your mail feed. In Finland, there is a local echo mail area named FIN.CONCORD. In other countries, please consult your local registration site for any local Concord echos. FILE ECHOS Concord file echos CONCORD and CONCTOOL/CBBSTOOL are available at least from all Concord support sites around the world. Concord files can also be received via IFDC file distribution network. INTERNET Concord is now available in numerous places around Internet. Concord files are available via anonymous FTP downloads at "ftp.pasi.net". Concord web site is located at URL "http://www.pasi.net/~tallinie/concord.html". Internet related features will be added to Concord later on. * * * INSTALLATION The following installation steps always need to be done manually because they modify your system bootup files CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT. - SHARE must be loaded either in CONFIG.SYS or AUTOEXEC.BAT. CONFIG.SYS: DEVICE=C:\DOS\SHARE.EXE AUTOEXEC.BAT: C:\DOS\SHARE.EXE (C:\DOS\ is assumed for DOS files storage.) OS/2 and Windows-95 users can skip this one because SHARE is automatically loaded in these environments. - Check your CONFIG.SYS file that FILES= setting is at least 40 (preferably more in multitasking and network systems). Each running Concord node will use up to about 35 open files at a time plus you need to reserve some open files for the operating system itself. CONFIG.SYS: FILES=40 - Add Concord environment variable to AUTOEXEC.BAT to point to Concord system path (where Concord is about to be installed). AUTOEXEC.BAT: SET CONCORD=C:\CONCORD\ (C:\CONCORD\ is default installation destination; spaces are not allowed around "=" char on this line.) Gamma-4 installed earlier : Please take backups before proceeding! You can unpack the files over the old files and convert the configuration files to new format by running Csetup utility and just saving the configuration files. There are no changes to existing .CTL, .FRM and .SCR files. (STARTUP.SCR file has been added.) Gamma-4 language files need to be updated with the language editor and new strings added to the end of the language file. Some minor changes and additions have also been done to default ANSI and menu files. (FSEDHLP.ANS file has been added.) If you have registered Concord, you will not need a new evaluation key file. Otherwise you will need to erase the old evaluation key file and install the new one. New install : Run INSTALL.EXE to install Concord and follow the instructions. IF the installation utility fails for some reason you can still go on by installing Concord manually. Manual installation steps : - Add line "SET CONCORD=C:\CONCORD\" to your AUTOEXEC.BAT (CONFIG.SYS for OS/2 version) - Add line "SET DSZLOG=C:\CONCORD\DSZ.LOG" to AUTOEXEC.BAT (CONFIG.SYS for OS/2 version) - Add line "SHARE" to your AUTOEXEC.BAT (not needed for OS/2 version) - Change FILES= to "FILES=40" (or higher) in CONFIG.SYS if the value is smaller than 40 - Unpack archive files (RAR format) to correct paths - Compile language files (eg. "CSETUP GEN LNG *.LNG") - Create default setup file (eg. "CSETUP CFG -CREATE") - Create empty user files (eg. "CSETUP USER -CREATE") - Installation should be finished. You can try Concord locally by running TESTRUN.BAT. The whole support team is willing to help you with installation, configuration and any other problems you may have. We are doing our outmost to make the software more user friendly and better in all possible ways, and you can help us to do that. Take care, Pasi +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+ I Pasi Talliniemi, Paimenhuilunpolku 3 B 21, FIN-00420 Helsinki, Finland I I E-MAIL pasi@pasi.net FTP ftp.pasi.net WWW http://www.pasi.net/~tallinie/ I I FAX, BBS 24H +358-9-2903463 V.34 2:220/297 +358-9-87893069 ISDN 2:220/298 I +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+ <*** End of File ***>