5. BBS: special features for BBS sysops ======================================= This document contains the following paragraphs: - A. Archive conversion (with virus checking) - B. Multimedia banners - C. UltraStealth (run UC with only 32k free memory) - Z. Summary To jump to a certain paragraph, press the corresponding letter. To jump to a specific document/chapter, press the corresponding digit. See chapter 1 paragraph E for an overview of all documentation. 5.A ARCHIVE CONVERSION (WITH VIRUS CHECKING). ============================================= Conversion of archives to UC archives can be done fully automatic. Perfect for the event list of your BBS. Conversion includes the optional calling of one or more virus checking programs. Any virus checking software can be used. You can define any extraction, checking or processing software you would like, to be called by UC. IF EXTRACTION IS NOT PERFECT UC WILL NOT CONVERT! The convert command ------------------- Command: UC C archives C is the convert command. ARJ/ZIP/LZH etc. archives are converted to UC2 archives. Example: UC C *.ARJ *.ZIP *.ARC All ARJ, ZIP and ARC archives in the current directory are converted to UC2 archives. VOLUME LABELS, BANNERS, MULTIPLE VERSIONS OF A FILE AND COMMENTS ARE NOT CONVERTED. The original archive will be deleted by UC. Customizing archive conversion ------------------------------ To convert archives to UC archives the original archiver's software will be used. In the UC package some .BAT files are supplied which are able to extract all files from different archive types (see chapter 6 paragraph D). UC uses advanced swapping techniques to swap UC out of memory while execution of the BAT files takes place. This assures the archivers have enough memory available. Currently supported formats are: ARC, ARJ, HA, HPK, HYP, LZH, PAK, ZIP and ZOO. UC conversion also supports the 'UCN' format. This format is exactly the same as UC2, but it denotes 'N'ew files. It can be used to mark files new to your BBS, allowing 'conversion' to UC2 archives. This is usefull since conversion can also include virus scanning etc.. Virus checking during conversion -------------------------------- When you activate virus checking (see chapter 6 paragraph A item E) during conversion, the file U2_CHECK.BAT is used. In this batch file virus scanners are called. If you want another virus scanner to be used, or use more scanners in the check, you are free to change the file U2_CHECK.BAT. Just be sure the virus scanner called is available on your system. Default U2_CHECK calls McAffee and F-Prot. (See chapter 6 paragraph D.) Automatic changes during conversion ----------------------------------- The supplied U2_XTRA.BAT file can be used to make automatic changes to archives contents during their conversion. Such a change could include the addition of multimedia banners. The U2_XTRA.BAT file as being distributed with UC does nothing at all, but can be adapted to do anything you like. The U2_XTRA.BAT file contains (disabled) sample code for adding banners to archives during their conversion. (See chapter 6 paragraph D.) 5.B MULTIMEDIA BANNERS. ======================= UC gives you the opportunity to add (multimedia) banners to archives. Five file types are supported: U$~BAN.GIF GIF image U$~BAN.JPG JPEG image U$~BAN.MOD MOD music files (playable with e.g. Modplay) U$~BAN.TXT Standard text (will be integrated in UC output) U$~BAN.ASK Special file (determines if UC2 asks 'Continue?' after showing/playing the banners. The content of this file is of no importance.) If you want to add a banner to an archive, you will have to specify the banner file explicitly. No wild cards can be used, e.g. 'UC A arch U$~BAN.*' will not work. Example: UC A arch U$~BAN.TXT A text banner is added to the archive arch. The file U2_SHOW.BAT contains the default software to show or play banners. See chapter 6 paragraph D for more information on this batch file. The banners are shown/played when files are extracted from the archive. 5.C ULTRASTEALTH (RUN UC WITH ONLY 32K FREE MEMORY). ==================================================== With help of UltraStealth, you can run UC with only 32 kilobytes of free memory available. Suppose you have a huge program (e.g. a word processor or a mailer). When this huge program has the ability of starting another DOS program only a small amount of memory will be free. UltraStealth allows you to have this huge program call UC. To achieve this you need to do two things: (1) the (huge) program has to be started with US (UltraStealth) --------------------------------------------------------------- Just put US in front of the normal command you use to start the (huge) program. So if the normal command is: bigprog /a /q You now have to use: US bigprog /a /q (2) use UUC instead of UC ------------------------- Instead of calling UC from your (huge) program, you should call UUC. UUC behaves exactly like UC. The only difference is that US and UUC together solve the memory problem the (huge) program causes. It is also possible to start US with no command behind it. In this case the DOS command processor (command.com) is started and UUC can be used anytime. The command processor (and US) can be stopped with the EXIT command. When UUC is called, while US is not active, UUC starts UC anyway. In this case there is no difference in the amount of memory needed for UUC and for UC. US and UUC together use about 32k of free memory, most of this will be claimed by US. Please note currently US and UUC only work with the native command processor, command.com, not with tools like 4DOS. Due to the complex nature of UltraStealth, it is recomended you test-drive UltraStealth thoroughly in your specific environment before you start using it. 5.Z SUMMARY. ============ UC C *.ARJ *.ZIP *.LZH Convert archives to UC archives. US Executes and installs UltraStealth (needed to use UUC) UUC ... Exactly the same as UC, but much less memory is needed. Will only work with a small amount of memory if UltraStealth is active.