+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+ |+----------------------------------------+ +-----------------------------+| ||ZIP : Area : | |Network address: || ||City: State: | |Continuous mail: || |+----------------------------------------+ |File requests : || | Phone: |File list name : || | Sysop: +-----------------------------+| | Keywords: | | | | BBS name: | | Focus: | | | | | | Fee: | | Valid: | | Hours: +----------------------------------------+| | Max baud: | DBX v1.00 - Database Exchange System || | Capacity: | For free program information write || | BBS used: | Mike Davidson || | Download: (on first call) | P. O. Box 2043, Walla Walla, WA 99362 || | +----------------------------------------+| +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+ Screen layout converted to lower ASCII for generic printers DBXNOTES.TXT Database Exchange System Pre-release Notes Version 1.00 January 21, 1989 Copyright (C) 1989 Mike Davidson. All Rights Reserved. Post Office Box 2043, Walla Walla, WA 99362 This document may be distributed without restriction provided the contents are not modified. C o n t e n t s 1 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 1.1 Will it Work With my BBS? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 1.2 Is Your Forthcoming Demo "Crippled"? . . . . . . . 3 2 Evolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 2.1 How to Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 3 Copyright Notice and Proposed Trademark . . . . . . . . 4 4 Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Appendix A DBX Order Form 6 Appendix B Complimentary BBS Listing 7 i DBXNOTES.TXT - Database Exchange System Version 1.00 Pre-release Notes January 21, 1989 1 O v e r v i e w Dear Sysop, This file is a pre-release announcement of DBX - a full-featured database management package for your BBS. As a small developer who has also played the role of Sysop to several popular BBS implementations over the years, we think DBX will provide a substantial measure of added value to your present system. The format and functionality of DBX, and in particular, the selection of a demonstration vehicle, has been rooted in this experience. Imagine, for a moment, the enormous potential of providing callers with "information on demand" about one or more subjects that focus your board's special interests. As a Sysop, what could you do with a fully-loaded database application invoked as a door? An index to your net's file resource list? An extensive directory list of your own system? Swap and shop listings for your community? Employment service? Community resources? Real estate listings? Apartment hunters' subscription service? A source code depository? Would any of these suggestions help to make your board THE preferred point of exchange? Would support increase? Formidably capitalized "information providers" have been making profits along these lines for years. Why not you? 1 . 1 W i l l i t W o r k W i t h m y B B S ? DBX requires MS/PC-DOS version 3.00 or greater. It will function with popular multitasking packages and true networks. DBX may be Sysop-configured to operate with all popular BBS packages that presently support doors, or that provide a method of exiting to an external application. The BBS must terminate completely, as does RBBS-PC or PCBoard, to cite two popular examples. DBX supports several popular terminal emulation protocols; among them, ANSI, VT100, and VT52. A generic "Teletype mode" is also available. DBX was written entirely in Turbo C 2.0 and assembly language, uses superfast interrupt-driven communications modules to easily support 19,200 bps, and provides professional-looking ANSI screens with color and low resolution character mode graphics. The size of a specific database file has no practical limit. - 2 - DBXNOTES.TXT - Database Exchange System Version 1.00 Pre-release Notes January 21, 1989 1 . 2 Is Your Forthcoming Demo "Crippled" ? Absolutely not! A fully-functional demo version, which you are welcome to distribute as shareware, will be available by mid-February. The demo package will offer a fixed-format system for managing BBS lists in ways you've not seen in existing applications. For example, a caller may rapidly retrieve BBS listings in your database by searching "focus keywords." These keywords are supplied (normally) by a visiting Sysop who wants your users to know about his board, and its particular focus within the nationwide BBS circuit. Optional fields in the listing record include provision for a network address, whether download access is available on the first call, and the name of the file a prospective caller may download (or file request), listing the board's file resources. Additionally, your user may search by zip-code, AT&T area code, city, state, or any combination of these fields and focus keywords. If that were not enough, the system will optionally print a formatted report to disk, compress the file, and allow your caller to download it with error checking, WITHOUT returning to the main board to do so. 2 E v o l u t i o n As a product, DBX will evolve in several distinct stages. Obtain the demo version first. Pass unmodified copies around. Install it. Use it. Critique it. Solicit caller feedback. Once you're convinced DBX is all we say it is, plan your format for a version customized to specification. Extensive documentation provided with the demo will explain what we need. The price for a hard-coded custom version is $30 if you order before February 28, 1989. The price includes disk service, of course. Thereafter, you may expect a price increase. Quite frankly, this pre-release "give away" price for custom compilation is to help recover some rather extensive development costs. Turnaround time is presently estimated at three weeks from receipt of your order, which will be immediately acknowledged by post card. During the second half of March, we'll make available a stand-alone version that will not require the use of a BBS front end. Caller identification and password access, as well as additional security features will be needed before this version is ready. - 3 - DBXNOTES.TXT - Database Exchange System Version 1.00 Pre-release Notes January 21, 1989 2 . 1 H o w t o O r d e r If you want the demo version (the BBS listing system) supplied on disk rather than attempting to find it on your favorite bulletin board, the price is $10: an inexpensive way to guarantee file integrity. In addition, each demo version so ordered will have a complimentary registration number embedded within the code as a means of providing you with a $5 finders' fee for each custom version ordered. This technique was pioneered (if we're not mistaken) by Quicksoft's Bob Wallace, and represents a potential payment for your distribution efforts on our behalf. An order form is included for your convenience. Whether you order or not, you are most welcome to send in a copy of the title page, properly filled out, to include your board in the distributed database. There is no charge for this service. Please note instructions following the order form for completing this listing request. 3 Copyright Notice and Proposed Trademark The product-specific description outlined in this file is the exclusive property of Mike Davidson, P. O. Box 2043, Walla Walla, WA 99362. All rights remain reserved, unless specifically waived. Most participants in the software publishing industry will immediately agree that it is not feasible for a small developer to pay unconscionable professional fees to determine the ownership of three alpha characters. Highly visible registered trademarks, such as IBM, are properly forbidden territory. "DBX" is nothing more than a kind of acronym for the descriptive phrase "database exchange." We would probably run an equal risk of stepping on someone's trademark by selecting three Scrabble (tm) tiles in a dark room. After the .ARC (tm) matter this past summer, alpha characters tend to make us nervous, particularly in a litigation-happy society. If any entity claims ownership to "DBX," please respond with solid evidence of the date of first use. Federal registration will doubtless be applied for after a reasonable time. 4 A c k n o w l e d g e m e n t s RBBS-PC is the work of Tom Mack and Jon Martin, and is copyrighted by The Second Ring (if memory serves). PCBoard is a registered trademark of Clark Development Company, Inc. - 4 - DBXNOTES.TXT - Database Exchange System Version 1.00 Pre-release Notes January 21, 1989 Turbo C is a registered trademark of Borland International, Inc. Borland products were intimately involved in this project. MS-DOS is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. IBM is a registered trademark of International Business Machines Corporation. .ARC is a trademark of System Enhancement Associates. - 5 - DBXNOTES.TXT - Database Exchange System Version 1.00 Pre-release Notes January 21, 1989 A p p e n d i x A D B X O r d e r F o r m SEND TO: Mike Davidson Post Office Box 2043 Walla Walla, WA 99362 Quan Item Price Total [ ] Demo Diskettes w/ serial $ 10:_____________________ [ ] Pre-release Custom Ver $ 30:_____________________ Company Purchase Order +$ 5:_____________________ WA orders add 7.9%:_____________________ TOTAL (US dollars):_____________________ [ ] Check [ ] Money order Thank you! [ ] Company purchase order Disk format: [ ] 3.50" microfloppy (IBM PS/2, most laptops). [ ] 5.25" formatted to 360K by 1.2M high-density drive (IBM AT and clones). This format suggested for our convenience. [ ] 5.25" genuine 360K only (IBM PC, XT, and clones). Please identify the BBS or information system from which you obtained this file: ------------------------------------------------------------- SHIP ORDER / USER MAIL Name:___________________________________ Company:________________________________ Address:________________________________ City,St,Zip:____________________________ Business or Data Phone:_________________ Home Phone:_____________________________ - 6 - DBXNOTES.TXT - Database Exchange System Version 1.00 Pre-release Notes January 21, 1989 A p p e n d i x B C o m p l i m e n t a r y B B S L i s t i n g Here are field lengths for the screen depicted on our title page. While the final format is subject to fine-tuning, essential information will remain as reads. If C is not yet your native language, note that [number] is the size of an array, or the length of a field, less 1 byte for the terminating null. All of the arrays are character strings, hence the null. Again, there is no charge for this listing. Please take some time with it, however, and describe your board concisely. int zip; int area_code; char city[21]; char state[3]; char phone[13]; /* the public BBS number */ char sysop[27]; /* your public name, as Sysop */ /* four keywords of 12 characters (max) each, no */ /* embedded spaces - some examples: PASCAL PHOTO */ /* INVESTMENTS PROGRAMMING */ char keyword[4][13]; char bbs_name[49]; /* three 60-character text strings - describe your */ /* system in English */ char focus[3][61]; /* Y or N - is there a subscription fee? */ int fee; /* Y or N - is on-line validation possible */ int validate; char hours[19]; int max_bps; /* example: 19200 */ /* what is your maximum on-line storage capacity? */ char capy[19]; char bbs_pkg[19]; - 7 - DBXNOTES.TXT - Database Exchange System Version 1.00 Pre-release Notes January 21, 1989 /* Y or N - may a caller have download access on */ /* first call? */ int down_on_first; char net_addrs[13]; /* example: 1:138/310 */ /* Y or N - if a member of a network, do you support */ /* continuous (crash) mail? */ int cont_mail; /* Y or N - does your system support network file */ /* requests? */ int file_req; /* what is the name of your system file catalog? */ /* example: FILELIST.ARC */ char filelist[13]; - 8 -