Source: SPITFIRE.DOCEdition: searchable Web reading editionPresentation: historical wording retained
APPENDIX A
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SPITFIRE QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
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QUESTION: Why is the "Do You Want ANSI Graphics? <y/N>" displayed
each time a caller logs on the BBS?
ANSWER: Some BBS software stores in the caller's file whether a
caller uses ANSI, and if so, then each time the caller logs
on, ANSI graphics are automatically displayed. When creating
SPITFIRE it was decided to provide the caller with the
opportunity to select the display preferred at each log-on.
There are two basic reasons for including this prompt to each
caller upon log on. First, some callers may call the BBS
from different locations. For instance, many callers call
the BBS from work as well as from home and while they may
have a color monitor at home, they may not at work. In such
a case, they would not want to use color graphics each time
they log-on. Also, observation has proven that a caller may
sometimes choose ANSI graphics and other times not. This may
be due to the amount of time a caller has to spend on the
board since ANSI graphics display slower than those created
in ASCII. For whatever their reasons may be, SPITFIRE
demonstrates increased flexibility by allowing the caller to
make that choice.
QUESTION: With SPITFIRE at the "Ready For Use..." prompt, the phone
rings and SPITFIRE simply does NOT answer the phone, but
rather stays at the "Ready For Use..." prompt. Why?
ANSWER: SPITFIRE relies on verbose result codes to determine an
incoming call, the baud rate of the incoming call and whether
the incoming call is an error correction modem. This problem
would indicate that the modem initialization string is not
correct. You should try using a different initialization
string. Your modem initialization string requires a V1 in it
because this tells your modem to send verbose result codes.
This manual contains a list of initialization strings which
have been tested and are reported to work with the various
modems listed. Also, please note, that the initialization
string must contain the numeric character 0 (zero) and NOT
the alphabetical character O.
Once you have discovered an initialization string that works
with your modem, please report said string and the complete
name and information pertaining to your modem so this
information can be added to this manual.
QUESTION: When attempting to jump to DOS with the Alt+J command, the
screen blinks but nothing happens. What can be done to
rectify this?
ANSWER: Depending on the individual's system, occasionally the Alt+J
command which allows the Sysop to drop to DOS appears to be
inoperative. The situation can easily be corrected by
setting the path statement in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file so
SPITFIRE can locate COMMAND.COM thru your path.
QUESTION: Why am I unable to Drop To DOS from a remote location
using the Sysop Menu's Drop To DOS feature?
ANSWER: Some systems do not like to redirect their I/O through
a serial port. In such cases, the problem can often be
corrected by using a program written specifically for this
purpose. It is suggested you use either Doorway by Marshall
Dudley or Remdoor by Ken Brown. Both Doorway and Remdoor
incorporate remote drop to DOS capability and are available
for download from Buffalo Creek's BBS. Also, please bear in
mind, SPITFIRE releases control to the SFREMOTE.BAT file
during the remote drop to DOS and lies dormant in memory.
QUESTION: Documentation for external door installation refers to
a file called SFDOORS.DAT. I cannot find this file on
my drive. Was it neglectfully not included in my SPITFIRE
package?
ANSWER: When executing a door, SPITFIRE creates two files containing
pertinent caller information required for door operation.
These files are SFDOORS.DAT, required by SPITFIRE, and
DOOR.SYS, a universal format door caller information file.
These are only used during door operation and once the
caller returns to SPITFIRE, SFDOORS.DAT is automatically
erased. Similarly, SFMAIN.DAT, SFFILE.DAT, SFMESS.DAT and
SFSYSOP.DAT created during execution of the Main, File,
Message AND Sysop Menu's Sysop configurable command option
are erased when the caller returns to SPITFIRE.
QUESTION: When a caller uploads a file to "Sysop Only", how is the
Sysop made aware of the uploaded file?
ANSWER: SPITFIRE incorporates two techniques by which the Sysop
is notified that a file has been uploaded privately. A
message is written both in the CALLERS.LOG and also
the HEYSYSOP.LOG file that informs the Sysop that a file
has been uploaded for "Sysop Only". The CALLERS.LOG and the
HEYSYSOP.LOG file can be viewed from the Sysop Menu and
by pressing F1 at the "Ready..." prompt. These files
should be checked regularly to keep the Sysop aware of the
various BBS activities.
QUESTION: When a caller logs on using the ANSI Color Graphics option,
when the SFFILES.BBS is displayed, occasionally a line in
the file is displayed only in the caller's default color.
Why is this?
ANSWER: In the event a file line is not colored like the others, but
rather uses the caller's default color, that is because the
comma in the file size is either not located properly or does
not exist. SPITFIRE cues off the comma in the file size to
determine the coloring of the SFFILES.BBS listings.
QUESTION: After successfully running SPITFIRE for some time, all of
a sudden upon booting up, a message is displayed that the
SFNODE.DAT file was not found. Why did this happen?
ANSWER: When SPITFIRE is installed, a file named SFNODE.DAT is
created. This file contains information as to what drive
and directory the SPITFIRE system and work files exist.
If after using the program, the Sysop changes the location
of SPITFIRE (for example, SPITFIRE was originally booted up
on a floppy and then moved to Drive C), SPITFIRE will
continue to look for the files in the originally specified
location. The easiest way to rectify this situation is to
use the /P command line parameter to set the drive and
directory used in SPITFIRE. Another option would be to
erase the existing SFNODE.DAT file and allow a new one to
be created. SPITFIRE will automatically assign the default
path to the one in which SPITFIRE.EXE resides. Another
option is to use the SFNODE.EXE utility provided by
Buffalo Creek Software to update any changes to your
node configurations.
QUESTION: After adding new files to the various file areas for the
callers to download, I noticed that when a caller logs
onto the BBS and does a check for new files, these files
are not displayed. What is the problem?
ANSWER: There are basically two reasons this could happen. The
first being, it is possible the files were copied into the
download directories but not added to the appropriate
SFFILES.BBS file. Another possible explanation would be
that the file name, file size, file date and file
description has not been located in the exact specified
place in the SFFILES.BBS. Refer to the section - SPITFIRE
FILE CLARIFICATIONS - of this manual for further information
regarding this subject.
QUESTION: The callers log reveals "Message sent and erased" for a
caller who logged onto the BBS. What does this mean?
ANSWER: This would depict a special notice ( <x>.BBS; refer to the
section - SPITFIRE FILE CLARIFICATION - of the manual for
further explanation regarding this subject) was left for a
specific caller. Once the caller receives this message it is
automatically erased. The CALLERS.LOG displays the above
mentioned message to inform the Sysop the message was sent
and then erased.
QUESTION: The HEYSYSOP.LOG reveals a message that a specific archived
file fails the CRC check. What does this mean?
ANSWER: Anytime the Sysop is notified that an archived MS/PC DOS file
fails the CRC check, this means that the specified file is
corrupt and should be erased from your system.
QUESTION: What is the purpose of the SPITFIRE.OVR overlay file?
ANSWER: By accessing the overlay file, many SPITFIRE procedures and
functions are called into memory only when they are needed
rather than being held in memory continuously. Thus the
overlay file drastically reduces the amount of memory which
is required to run SPITFIRE. This is very significant to
Sysops running SPITFIRE in a multi-tasking or networking
environment that is required for multi-node operation.
QUESTION: I recently registered a door program and was requested by
the author to add him to the caller's file. This was so he
could call the BBS and upload my registered version. The
call was long distance and he wanted to avoid the time
required to complete the log-on questionnaire. Is it
possible to add a caller to the callers data base?
ANSWER: A caller may be added to the SFUSERS.DAT file by selecting
ALT+A at the SPITFIRE "Ready For Use..." prompt. A caller
may also be added by using the <U>... Modify Callers feature
found within the Sysop Menu.
QUESTION: Why does SPITFIRE limit the number of files allowed in
an external batch download to seven files and in an
external batch upload to six?
ANSWER: These limits are set by DOS rather than SPITFIRE. DOS
will only allow a command line to contain a specific
number of characters. The seven files for the batch
download and the path for the upload directory and the
six files allowed in a batch upload attain the allowable
DOS limits. SPITFIRE can be configured through the
UseFile feature to allow 99 files per download batch,
provided the external protocol has this capability.
QUESTION: When running SPITFIRE, I get a Runtime error 004 and
SPITFIRE stops. Why?
ANSWER: This runtime error problem is caused by too many files
being open at one time. You will need to increase the
number of files that DOS will allow to be opened at once
by changing your CONFIG.SYS file. Refer to your DOS
manual for further information regarding this subject.
Your system will have to be rebooted after changing your
CONFIG.SYS file.
QUESTION: Why am I able to upload files that are contained in the
SFNOUP.DAT file? As I understand this is a list of files
which should not be able to be uploaded to the BBS.
ANSWER: SFNOUP.DAT has no affect on any caller with Sysop status.
In other words, any caller with a security equal to or
greater than what you have designated as Sysop security
for your system may upload files, even though they may
be contained in your SFNOUP.DAT.
QUESTION: Why are callers unable to leave a comment to Sysop on my
BBS?
ANSWER: Before SPITFIRE will allow a comment to be left to a Sysop,
the Sysop must be a caller of the BBS. The name the Sysop
uses to log onto the BBS must be the same as the Sysop Caller
Name configured using the ALT+Z configuration window. If a
Sysop enters Sysop as the Sysop Caller Name and then logs
onto the BBS using their real name, SPITFIRE will not allow
a comment to be left to the Sysop because Sysop is not a
caller of the BBS. In this example, the Sysop would need to
change the Sysop Caller Name from Sysop to their real name.
Once this is done SPITFIRE will allow comments to be sent to
the Sysop. In other words, the Sysop caller name must be the
same as the name used for logging onto the BBS.
QUESTION: I just updated my bulletin number #9, yet when a caller
logs on, SPITFIRE does not list bulletin number #9 as being
updated. Why?
ANSWER: For purposes of speed, SPITFIRE stops searching the drive
for new bulletins once a bulletin file is not found. For
example, let's say that SPITFIRE finds BULLET[1..7].BBS
and then does not find BULLET8.BBS. In such case, SPITFIRE
then stops the search and will not find BULLET9.BBS even
though it may exist on the drive. There are two ways to fix
this. The first and most logical way is to keep your
bulletins in numeric order. The second way would be to
create dummy bulletin files so SPITFIRE will find the dummy
file and continue its search for updated bulletins.
QUESTION: When attempting to boot SPITFIRE or when attempting to
log-on the BBS, I am told that a maintenance operation
is being performed and that I should call back later. There
is no maintenance operation being performed. What do I do?
ANSWER: This could be caused by a number of things which are not
important to discuss. The way to cure the problem is to
erase the SFWHOSON.DAT file found in the WORK directory.
When you reboot SPITFIRE, a new SFWHOSON.DAT will be created.
QUESTION: When I attempt to log-on SPITFIRE, I am told that I am
already logged on another node but I am not. What do I do?
ANSWER: This could be caused by a number of things which are not
important to discuss. The way to cure the problem is to
erase the SFWHOSON.DAT file found in the WORK directory.
When you reboot SPITFIRE, a new SFWHOSON.DAT will be created.
QUESTION: I keep seeing the message, "SFCALLOG.DAT not found WORK
directory!" written to my CALLERS.LOG. What is the problem?
ANSWER: The file entitled, SFCALLOG.DAT, needs to be copied to the
WORK directory or the SFCALLOG.DAT is not compatible with
your current version of SPITFIRE. The SFCALLOG.DAT file
contains information which is used to write the CALLERS.LOG.
If this file is not found by SPITFIRE or if the SFCALLOG.DAT
does not correspond to the version of SPITFIRE you are
running, your CALLERS.LOG will be missing important
information which clarifies the recorded activity.
QUESTION: I just purchased a new 14400 modem. SPITFIRE will not
accept 14400 as the baud rate. What am I doing wrong?
ANSWER: Valid baud rates are 110, 300, 1200, 2400, 4800, 9600,
19200, 38400, 57600, and 115200. Normally you will want
to configure SPITFIRE's System Baud Rate at 57600 for most
modems advertised as 14400.
QUESTION: SPITFIRE thinks that all calls are high speed. In other
words, I have my system configured at 57600 and SPITFIRE
thinks that every call is at 57600. What is wrong?
ANSWER: SPITFIRE only knows the speed of the call by what your
modem reports. By default, most high speed FAX modems
report the speed of the port (DTE) rather than the actual
speed of the call (DCE). Normally, you will have to add
a W2 or a S95=3 or both to your modem initialization string
to force your modem to report the actual speed of the call.
These commands work with most modems but not all, thus, you
will have to refer to your modem's manual.
Thank you very much for selecting SPITFIRE.
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