        ͻ
                                                    Ŀ
              K E E P I N G   I N   T O U C H        
                      
            SPITFIRE Monthly Support Newsletter      
              for registered SPITFIRE Sysops!        
                      November 1993                  
           Compliments of BUFFALO CREEK SOFTWARE     
             Buffalo Creek's BBS * 515-225-8496      
               38400/19200/9600/2400/1200 Baud       
                          2 Nodes                    
                                                     
        ͼ 
          
                    Edited by Jacque Shipley
       The Mother Board BBS - (515) 986-3464 - 19200 Baud
                Sysop Of The Month by Walt Crede
      Roam This Fertile Land -  (515) 288-8755 - 2400 Baud
         Newly Registered SPITFIRE BBS List by Ann Woltz
                  Other Contributions As Noted


ͻ
    Notes from the author of SPITFIRE!   Ŀ
ͼ 
  



QWK NET-MAIL SYSTEM PROGRESS REPORT
-----------------------------------

   Some of you may be interested to know that the net-mail system
being written for SPITFIRE is progressing at a somewhat reasonable
rate.  Frankly, I had hoped to have made more progress on the program
by now but it seems that replying to messages has been consuming a
tremendous amount of my time.

   This software is being written in the normal Buffalo Creek
Software manner (no whistles and bells - just a get-the-job-done
program).  While this program may not be as sophisticated as some of
you would like, I suspect that it is going to get a lot of use.
There has already been quite a bit of interest expressed in starting
some new nets etc.  This is really kind of exciting to me.  I am
hopeful that we will be able to come up with a simple program, but
yet useful program.  Thus, a savings for SPITFIRE Sysops.


LAKOTA PROBLEMS BEING RESEARCHED
--------------------------------

   I  kind of think that I owe many of you an apology.  There seems
to be a problem within LAKOTA (unique to certain systems) that I am
just not able to figure out.  The apology is due to the fact that I
have been blaming this problem to a faulty setup and as it turns out,
there is a problem within the software.  I have 6 machines around
here and LAKOTA works flawlessly on every one of them.  In fact, I
can import a packet on all of my machines that will cause other
machines to crash.  Thus, it becomes extremely difficult for me to
find and fix the problem.

   The problem seems to evolve around maintaining the stack while
LAKOTA has shelled to DSZ, PKUNZIP or PKZIP.  As many of you know,
LAKOTA is written in assembler so this is some extremely difficult
code to write.  I am doing a tremendous amount of research attempting
to learn how to maintain the stack.  Hopefully, I will be able to get
the problem solved soon.  The solution may be converting LAKOTA.COM
to LAKOTA.EXE.

   I thank each of you who have had problems for your understanding
and continued support.  Please believe, I will get this thing to work
if I have to write it in pascal (yuk).


I AM CONFUSED - NOTHING NEW
---------------------------

   We, at Buffalo Creek Software (Ann and I), believe that we go
out of our way to treat our customers right.  We believe that
this is evidenced by the FREE SPITFIRE upgrade offers which have
been made over the years, by our FREE support, by our $1.00
utilities, etc etc etc.  For example, I spent some 3-4 months
developing SPITFIRE v3.4.  Then, when it is finished, we dig in
our pockets and spend well over $1,000.00 to mail out the
SPITFIRE v3.4 upgrade notices.  We then spend a few more
thousand dollars purchasing diskettes and other materials so the
SPITFIRE v3.4 packages can be shipped.  This list of things can
go on and on.  Please keep in mind that I have a more than full
time job to maintain and Ann has a home to maintain.  Then the
upgrade orders start coming in and I took a week of my vacation
to help Ann fill all the upgrade orders.  After all of that, we
still have people kicking us around about the manner of our
upgrades.  Can someone explain that to me????  There is
something real wrong about it in my opinion.  I am starting to
think that we would get more respect if we ripped our customers
off like other firms do.


SOMETHING TO CONSIDER!
----------------------

[ Mark 8:36 ]ͻ
  For what shall it profit a man, if he shall   Ŀ
  gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?   
ͼ 
  

    I want to thank each of your for your continued support and
promotion of SPITFIRE ... it is very much appreciated.

                                May God bless you and yours ...
                                Mike Woltz


͸
 SPITFIRE UTILITY UPDATES 
;

   SFSENDIT -  
   ----------
     A new version of SFSENDIT was released October 13, 1993.  This
release, version 1.1, provides the additional option of using command 
line parameters which enable it to support unattended operation within
batch files.  The command line parameters are used to specify the file
name and extension of the file to be sent, the SPITFIRE file area where
the file is located, whether the file is to be deleted after being 
sent and the caller to whom the file will be sent.
   
   
   SFUSERS -
   ---------
     Version 1.5a was released October 24, 1993.  A new field has been
included in the caller's database.  The field, BBS ID Name, is used
in conjunction with Buffalo Creek Software's net mail system, FireNet.

   SFCHKUP -
   ---------
     SFCHKUP, Version 2.5, was released on October 29, 1993.  SFCHKUP
was revised to properly test for the ASCII 26 (^Z) character at the end 
of the SFFILES.BBS to be appended.

   SFMNUEXT - 
   ----------
     Version 1.5 was released October 14, 1993 and added support
for the RIP Graphic format.  Each of the existing display files
supported in SFMNUEXT using the ASCII (*.BBS) and/or ANSI (*.CLR)
display screens will support the RIP Graphic (*.RIP) format as well.


͸
 LAKOTA / MICROQWK PROJECT 
;

   Joe Hardy, a Des Moines programmer, is the author of the offline mail
reader, MicroQWK.  Mike contacted Joe in regard to revising his reader
so that it will be compatible with an upcoming release of Lakota.  The
joint programming efforts will allow a caller to mark messages for
deletion when responding to messages through an offline mail reader.

   Joe will design MicroQWK so that when it opens a mail packet it will
test to determine if the packet was downloaded using the Lakota mail 
system.  If it was, after replying to a message, the MicroQWK user 
will be prompted as to whether he/she would like to delete the original
message.  

   If the caller responds that the original message should be deleted, 
a delete indicator will be passed on to Lakota when the reply packet
is uploaded.  Lakota will recognize the delete indicator and the message
will be marked for deletion.

   Mike and Joe are both in the process of revising their programs to
incorporate these modifications.  Lakota has not been updated at this
time but testing is expected to begin in the next few weeks.

   Mike reports that he is looking forward to working with Joe and
thinks SPITFIRE Sysops will find him very receptive to their input
and feedback.  Joe regularly logs onto Buffalo Creek's BBS and The
Mother Board BBS so Sysops wishing to contact Joe can do so by leaving
him a message on either of these boards.


͸
 COLUMBIA SPITFIRE OFFLINE TO RELOCATE 
;

    Columbia SPITFIRE which has been a SPITFIRE support board for a
number of years as well as serving as the National Host of Circuitnet
will be temporarily offline.  Steve Newman, Sysop of Columbia SPITFIRE,
will be relocating in Alabama.  Steve, earlier, anticipated November 15th
as the date when his board would be taken offline.

    An announcement will be posted in the newsletter when the Columbia
SPITFIRE is again available, including the new BBS numbers.  

    Good luck with your move Steve!  A good number of SPITFIRE Sysops
will be waiting your return!


͸
 ANSI BOMBS AND SPITFIRE 
;

    In the September Newsletter, Mike mentioned ANSI bombs... ANSI Bombs
are clever ANSI codes, that can be used to switch your keys around, or 
replace a single keystroke with a complete command line.  For instance,
one could press the backslash key ("\", being a very common key) and find
it has been reconfigured to process the  "FORMAT C:" command.  Then, 
to carry the prank a step further, an ANSI bomb could switch your Y and N
keys around...

    After going through a great deal of trouble to learn the "art" of ANSI
bombs, I have learned some facts which might help other SPITFIRE SysOp's 
sleep a little better at night.   
 
1.)  ANSI Bombs can only run in DOS!  Suppose someone set up an ANSI 
     bomb to reconfigure the F10 key.  If the Sysop decided quit SPITFIRE,
     pressing the F10 key would simply quit SPITFIRE.  It would not 
     execute the bomb.  Only when the key is pressed from the DOS prompt
     is there a potential for a problem.

2.)  Since SPITFIRE does not show escape codes in the messages, the bomb
     will not take affect, unless you view it with the DOS command:

     TYPE FILENAME.ANS

     This means, that other BBS software programs that do show the escape 
     codes, are more susceptible to pranksters.
 
3.)  If you encounter a ANSI bomb, the best thing to do is the reboot
     using either the reset button or the power button.  Upon rebooting, 
     find the fixed ANSI screen, and delete it.


     The only way that a ANSI file could stay through the booting process,
     is if TYPE command was put into the AUTOEXEC.BAT file.... which would
     involve the use of a separate EXE, or COM program...

    I hope that this has helped all of you, and, as a proud SPITFIRE
SysOp, I am very happy to say, that SPITFIRE is hardly even affected by 
ANSI bombs... there could be one in a ANSI echo, and not even alter the 
system.
            If you wish to learn more about ANSI bombs, Call 
              The UnFlushed Toilet BBS, at (309) 797 - 0824

Article Contributed by Matt Timion, Sysop
The UnFlushed Toilet BBS
(309) 797-0824


   Mike Woltz would like to make an additional comment in regard to the
above article.  That being:  SPITFIRE, to the best of his ability, attempts
to protect against the possibility of any problems which could result from
ANSI bombs.  However, nothing is totally full-proof and Sysops should 
take precautions such as rebooting their computers when exiting SPITFIRE.


͸
 SPITFIRE BOARD-OF-THE-MONTH 
;

                      Enchanted Forest BBS
                      Sysop  Larry Wagoner
                          601-798-5685
                      Carriere, Mississippi

   Like many other BBS's, Enchanted Forest started as a learning
experience.  I got my hands on an old 8088-based XT in 1990, and 
at first used it only for word processing.  At first, I didn't 
realize that the machine had an internal modem installed.  Then, 
I wondered what those phone jacks on the back of the computer were 
there for.  It wasn't long before I acquired a copy of Telix and 
began to haunt local BBS's.

   The idea of running my own BBS came to me shortly after, and I 
started to look around for software that I was comfortable with, 
and which would run on the old XT, which had only 512K of RAM, a 
20-megabyte hard drive and green screen monographic monitor.  The 
modem was an old 1200 baud internal.  I tried out a number of BBS 
packages before finally getting my hands on a copy of SPITFIRE 2.8.  
For various reasons I had been unhappy with the other BBS software 
I had tried out.  With SPITFIRE, though, everything fell into place.  
The operation of the BBS was intuitive, and the documentation was 
helpful and clearly written.

   I had one other reason to be partial to SPITFIRE.  I have always
loved the aircraft which bears the same name - and I suspect that I
am the only SPITFIRE SysOp to have actually ever been in the fighter
airplane as well.

   The BBS was first named Country Corner because I live in a very
rural area of southwestern Mississippi.  In time, however, I found 
the name unsatisfactory and switched it to Enchanted Forest.

   The BBS was small at first, both because of the limitations of 
the computer and modem I was using, and because I was at the time 
a full-time student in graduate school, working towards my Masters 
Degree in Social Work.  In mid-1991 I purchased a new computer and 
modem - a 386-SX and a 2400 baud model.

   Then started an almost year-long war with the local telephone 
company over sub-standard equipment that limited the BBS to 1200 
baud operation.  Finally, in mid-1992, after a number of delays, 
the phone company installed the SLC 96 switching unit in my area 
which permitted me to run high speed.  

   It was a development I was ready for.  One month before the 
telephone company finished its work, I installed a U.S. Robotics 
Dual Standard 16.8K modem here.  I was so eager for the work to be 
completed that I actually drove out to the local switching hut to 
see the switch over work being done.  The technician doing the work 
said he had never seen a customer so interested in what he does!

   It was also in mid 1992 that I added a CD-ROM player to enhance 
the file offerings of the BBS.  In the short span of about a month, 
the BBS went from a small 20-meg BBS running at 1200 to a 750-Meg 
BBS at 16.8K!  

   Netmail has been one of the main offerings at Enchanted Forest 
for some time.  Enchanted Forest is a Hub site for Intelec Inter-
national and I serve as a moderator of three conferences - including 
the SPITFIRE Conference.

   My wife's patience and help have been a major contributor to the 
success of Enchanted Forest.  She keeps a watchful eye on things 
when I am at work and alerts me to any problems.  She has been 
patient when I spent long hours at the keyboard working on the BBS.

   In 1993, I was honored to be part of the beta team for SPITFIRE 
version 3.4 - something I hope to be able to do again in the future.   
Since starting with SPITFIRE in 1991, I am proud to say I have been 
able to steer five other people to SPITFIRE BBS software.  Two of 
the five have registered, and one more is about to do so.  

Article Contributed by;
Larry Wagoner, Sysop
Enchanted Forest BBS
601-798-5685


͸
 SYSOP-OF-THE-MONTH 
;        

                           Emmett Perdue
                         The Byte House BBS
                          (205) 222-3097


   WOW!!...SysOp of the Month, I must say that when I logged onto 
Buffalo Creek and saw that message I was a little shocked. 

   I'm not very good at writing this type of thing, so here goes..<G>

   I run The Byte House BBS in Andalusia, AL. (that's located in
the south Alabama/north Florida area) I am married and have 3 
wonderful girls, all in their mid-to-late teens.  Needless to
say, you can see that I am NOT the boss around here.<G>

   I started this BBS when I was living in Jacksonville, FL as The 
Blue Lagoon.  I have worked with everything from PC's to Mainframes
for the last 18 years for a living, so I wanted to take some of 
that "stuff" that was laying around in the back room and put it to
good use.  After looking around at all the BBS software...Opus, 
Telegard, Wildcat, RBBS and more...I logged onto a SPITFIRE BBS in
Jacksonville called The Animal Farm, and liked what I saw, found
SF in the file areas, and the rest is history.  It was registered and
on-line within a month.  I started on a 386-16 with an 80 meg 
hard drive and a 2400 bps modem....as those of us who have lived
in Florida and the South East know, lightning can and will come in
whenever it feels like it, and it did.  That 386-16 was toast...
So I bought a 386-33 and a 9600 bps modem and put the BBS back up 
as The Byte House....I don't really remember why I changed the name,
but there must have been a pretty good reason.  
   
   The BBS continued to grow and grow, and I put in a second
node, and then a third.  After several years of living in large
cities, I grew tired of "big city" life and wanted to move back
to the country, and I did.  I put the BBS back up here and until
a few months ago when another person about 50 miles from here
put up an SF board, it was the only BBS around.  After it caught
on it started to grow again...I then met this man named Steve
Newman and joined the CircuitNet Net-Mail system...this brought
many more users to the BBS.  The BBS now is running 6 BBS nodes
on a Lantastic ver 5.0 LAN with over 6 Gigabyte of drive space
and 9 CD-ROM drives on line..and as of last week, has been given
the honor of taking over the National Host duties for CircuitNet
while Steve Newman relocates, and takes a much deserved rest
from those duties.

   I would like to say that SPITFIRE has always met my
expectations and performed like a champ here, and there is not
another piece of BBS software that is so user (and SysOp)
friendly.  THANKS to Mike Woltz for writing a GREAT piece of BBS
software, and keeping it that way, and it has been great being a
part of the 3.4 Beta team this year.  There are a great many
folks who deserve a Thank You, but there are 2 big ones that go
out....Steve Newman, who has worked with me any time it was
needed, and Richard Transue, without Richard I would probably
still be cussing Front Door on Node 2..<G>

Thanks All....

Emmett Perdue
The Byte House BBS
(205)222-3097
USR D/S to 16.8k


͸
  NEWLY REGISTERED SPITFIRE SYSTEMS 
;

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


Master Poe BBS................................313-885-5940...2400 Baud
Lester Sanders, Sysop................................Detroit, Michigan

The Ragarm! BBS...............................602-230-1463...2400 Baud
Kenneth Gardner, Sysop................................Phoenix, Arizona

Shear Delight BBS.............................219-736-8831...9600 Baud
Rick Shear, Sysop................................Merrillville, Indiana

IC-LOG.....................................82-053-470-8583...2400 Baud
Richard Metcalf, Sysop.................................APO, AP Address

The Foslocker BBS.............................619-951-8827...2400 Baud
Bob Downs, Sysop...............................Victorville, California

The Astro Cafe...............................305-245-6393...14400 Baud
David Allen, Sysop..................................Homestead, Florida

Open Door BBS................................804-531-9214...14400 Baud
Jim & Carolyn Johnson, Sysop.........................Norfolk, Virginia

The SezMe Street BBS....................011-822-7918-9985...14400 Baud
Fred Partridge, Sysop..................................APO, AP Address

Mystic Cloister BBS..........................402-390-0285...14400 Baud
Troy Lichtas, Sysop....................................Omaha, Nebraska

The All Night BBS.............................915-757-1649...2400 Baud
Robert Opdyke, Sysop....................................El Paso, Texas

DISPATCH BBS.................................414-536-0127...14400 Baud
Thomas Martin, Sysop..............................Milwaukee, Wisconsin

The Crypt BBS................................318-226-9126...14400 Baud
Martin Dykes, Sysop..............................Shreveport, Louisiana

ADT II BBS...................................814-474-3921...14400 Baud
Marvin Richardson, Sysop........................Fairview, Pennsylvania

The All Night Cafe............................515-276-7346...2400 Baud
Gus Schlueter, Sysop..................................Des Moines, Iowa

The Pigg Sty.................................803-888-1803...16800 Baud
James Preston, Sysop............................Seneca, South Carolina

Ten Pins.....................................817-421-4410...14400 Baud
B.J. Woodard, Sysop...................................Grapevine, Texas

Master Blaster BBS...........................Phone Unknown...2400 Baud
Ryan Trumpe-Malone, Sysop.................Geraldton Western, Australia

The Red Baron's Hideaway......................503-245-2364...2400 Baud
Russ Johnson, Sysop...................................Portland, Oregon

"Hermon's Trees"..............................513-734-3034...2400 Baud
Hermon Fagley, Sysop......................................Bethel, Ohio

Genesis BBS...................................704-762-2930...9600 Baud
Larry Heninger, Sysop..........................Linwood, North Carolina

Tithon BBS....................................514-273-5317...2400 Baud
Miguel Torres, Sysop..........................Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Picture Perfect Adult BBS....................904-629-4501...14400 Baud
Charles Todd, Sysop.................................Morriston, Florida

The Wine Celler...............................814-898-3534...2400 Baud
J.D. Muller, Sysop..................................Erie, Pennsylvania

The Wizards Workshop..........................708-964-4901...2400 Baud
Chris Richmond, Sysop..........................Downers Grove, Illinois

Magic Kingdom............................01-966-7-223-3961...2400 Baud
Richard Parks, Sysop.....................Khamis Mushayt, Saudia Arabia

Bob's Mess...................................817-699-7655...14400 Baud
Bob Centerbar, Sysop....................................Killeen, Texas


   In addition, there were 11 new private SPITFIRE BBS Systems
registered.  These private SPITFIRE BBS's included registrations
from: Twin Falls, Idaho; Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; Westminster,
California; Salyersville, Kentucky; Erie, Pennsylvania; Wilton, 
Iowa; Clackamas, Oregon; Rocklin, California; Irving, Texas;
Phoenix, Arizona; and Beverly Hills, Florida.

   There were 20 registrations for whom registration information was
incomplete.  These included BBS's in: Tulsa, Oklahoma; Cheyenne, 
Wyoming; Santa Clara, California; Newcastle, Maine; Grigny, France;
Dearborn, Michigan; San Jose, California; Salina, Kansas; Burlington,
Iowa; Eatontown, New Jersey; Chatham, Ontario, Canada; Sanford, North
Carolina; Monroe, Louisiana; Tampa, Florida; Cleveland, Tennessee;
Casper, Wyoming; Ivry Sur Seine, France; Cambridge Ontario, Canada;
Mountain Home, Idaho; and Gravois Mills, Missouri.

   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.  
