Keeping in Touch
February 1992
SPITFIRE Monthly Support Newsletter for registered SPITFIRE Sysops
Compliments of Buffalo Creek Software
In this issue
- FIRENET SEEKING BETA TESTERS
- SPITFIRE UTILITY REVIEWS
- SYSOP-OF-THE-MONTH
- NEWLY REGISTERED SPITFIRE SYSTEMS
Archival transcript
The text below is a faithful Unicode rendering of the original SF02-92.TXT. Its DOS line wrapping, spacing, capitalization, spelling and CP437 box art have been retained.
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║ ╟─┐
║ K E E P I N G I N T O U C H ║ │
║ ═══════════════════════════════ ║ │
║ SPITFIRE Monthly Support Newsletter ║ │
║ for registered SPITFIRE Sysops! ║ │
║ February 1992 ║ │
║ Compliments of BUFFALO CREEK SOFTWARE ║ │
║ Buffalo Creek's BBS * 515-225-8496 ║ │
║ 38400/19200/9600/24400/1200 Baud ║ │
║ 2 Nodes ║ │
║ ║ │
╚═╤══════════════════════════════════════════╝ │
└────────────────────────────────────────────┘
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
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║ Notes from the author of SPITFIRE! ╟─┐
╚═╤═══════════════════════════════════════╝ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────┘
The first thing that I would like to do is to assure each of
you that SPITFIRE is secure. As many of you are probably aware,
my system was broken into by some criminals living in the Des
Moines area. I would assume that many would fear that they were
able to do this by some shortcoming in SPITFIRE. Not so...
SPITFIRE is secure. They were simply able to do it because of
the betrayal of the trust Des Moines area Sysops have enjoyed
for years and the complete lack of ethics and morals.
SPITFIRE v3.2 isn't progressing as fast as I would like it
to, however, progress is being made. The file tagging feature
is about 50% complete. Once that feature is finished, then I
just have some clean up work to do and we should have it
finished. It will be awhile yet. Thanks for your patience ...
I believe it is worth waiting for.
Once SPITFIRE v3.2 is released and distributed, then I will
finish the UTI which I am writing. It is about 90% completed
now but the completion of SPITFIRE v3.2 takes priority.
SPITFIRE continues to grow at a steady pace. I am pleased by
the continued growth and I recognize that many of you play an
important role in this growth by your promotion of SPITFIRE. We
appreciate your help.
Thanks.... visit with you next month....
Mike and the rest of the Buffalo Creek Gang
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│ FIRENET SEEKING BETA TESTERS │
╘═══════════════════════════════╛
Mike Woltz and Bob Zimmerman combine their efforts to bring you
FIRENET. FIRENET is a comprehensive netmail package that will import
PCRelay mail into the SPITFIRE message base. Prior to FIRENET
this required the PCRelay communications program and a separate
UTI program to import the mail package into the SPITFIRE message
base.
FIRENET is now ready for beta testing and anyone interested in
beta testing should contact either Mike Woltz or Bob Zimmerman.
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│ SPITFIRE UTILITY REVIEWS │
╘════════════════════════════╛
SFCAT20.ZIP - CATCHEM Written by Mike Robinson
As Sysops, all of us are aware of those "few" callers who try to
beat the system. Most commonly, these callers log on the BBS under any
number of aliases for the purpose of gaining additional downloads or
time on the system. Catchem provides the tool to aid the Sysop to
scrutinize the SFUSERS.DAT information and catch these abusive callers.
Catchem utilizes pull down menus which makes it easy to use. The
Display option allows the Sysop to sort the SFUSERS.DAT database by
security level, password, birthdate, phone number, user name or user
number. Any duplicates found by Catchem are highlighted. Pressing
enter will display two windows. The first window lists any duplicates
of the caller the highlighted bar was on when Enter was pressed. The
second window displays detailed information about the caller the
highlighted bar was on when Enter was pressed. Thus, comparisons
are easily made.
Catchem will not do any updating to SFUSERS.DAT! It merely sorts
the SFUSERS.DAT file to help determine if any offenders are using
the BBS. Once you suspect or verify that a caller is logging on
with duplicate name, any modifications to SFUSERS.DAT must be
maintained from the BBS.
In addition to displaying the information on the monitor, the
desired sort option can be used to save the information to a text file
or directed to the printer.
Mike Robinson, keeping with Buffalo Creek Software's attempt to
offer reasonably priced SPITFIRE utilities, requests no fee for
this program. If you have authored a SPITFIRE utility, he asks
for an exchange of programs and to all others the program is free.
SFSECADJ - Written by Kenneth Rucker
SFSECADJ is a SPITFIRE utility that can be used as an event to
automatically monitor and, if necessary, adjust your callers'
security level. A caller's access, using SFSECADJ, can be altered
on any of four criteria the program uses. Specified command line
parameters allow SFSECADJ to automatically change a caller's security
based on uploads, downloads, number of calls to the BBS or number of
illegal log ons to the BBS.
For instance, suppose you would like to raise a caller's access
once they have called the BBS five times. SFSECADJ will do this!
Suppose you want to lower a caller's access if they have attempted
3 illegal log ons. SFSECADJ will do this! Suppose the caller
has contributed a significant amount of files to the BBS so you
would like to bestow a privileged access to this caller. SFSECADJ
will do this.
As you can see, SFSECADJ goes beyond the typical security
monitoring that is based solely on the caller's upload/download
ratio. SFSECADJ provides the Sysop a flexible means of
maintaining security access to their BBS! And another nice feature
of this utility, is that it will write to a specified log file
(CALLERS.LOG or HEYSYSOP.LOG) a record of any updating done by
the program.
The author, Kenneth Rucker, offers SFSECADJ, again keeping with
Buffalo Creek Software's guidelines, as FREEWARE. So simply enjoy
SFSECADJ, another fine SPITFIRE utility.
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│ SYSOP-OF-THE-MONTH │
╘════════════════════╛
Bill Keehn, Sr.
The Ancient Mariner
Rock Island, Illinois
"I had the privilege of being the first registered SPITFIRE BBS in
the Iowa/Illinois QuadCity area," Bill told me. "I registered SPITFIRE
2.8 late in 1989 and have been online ever since...24 hours a day, seven
days a week."
His son, a computer engineer at Norand in Cedar Rapids, introduced
him to computers in the days of the Commodore Vic 20 and he was hooked,
been involved with them from then on.
"There aren't many people who are lucky enough to have their work
and prime hobby so close in harmony as mine are. I work as a computer
repair technician at Data One in Moline, IL, a branch of Spectrum
Information Technologies. Besides repairing Toshebia and Zenith laptops,
I help provide national support to many Fortune 500 who've chosen to have
us implement the computerized automation of their various field support
staff. I probably talk to 20, sometimes 30 folks a day across the U.S.
about modem failures and other problems."
His number one hobby is The Ancient Mariner, a favorite bulletin board
in his area. The "Ancient Mariner" name was chosen because of Bill's
penchant for nautical poems. A hobbyist poet, he's had several of his
published in "Good Old Days" and "Women's Circle."
He's an avid SPITFIRE fan. Indeed, he suggested to Data One that
they select SPITFIRE as the company's official field support BBS, and
after careful evaluation they registered version 3.0 and are quite
satisfied with its performance. Bill plans to introduce SPITFIRE to
other companies looking to add a user friendly BBS to their operations.
Since starting The Ancient Mariner in 1989, several other SPITFIRE
boards have gone online in his area, fully registered and performing an
excellent service. Bill's help has been an important factor in bringing
them into being.
"I always try to assist in every way possible," he says, "to get these
new SPITFIRE boards going. And it's worth the effort and expense. Even
with a 9600 bauder, my phone bill averages between $100-$150 monthly, long
distance calls from Sysops seeking help."
He has other hobbies. One's oil painting...much to his amazement he's
sold some of his creations. Another's organic gardening. When Mike
Woltz stopped by for a surprise visit last summer, Bill proudly displayed
sunflowers 15'-18' tall and 13' Indian corn plus a ton of pumpkins and
melons growing in his backyard. Bill describes himself as a quasi-
Thoreau naturalist.
He believes the most important thing in BBSing is folks communicating
with folks. "I deeply value the friendships I've developed over the past
three years...people I've never seen, many of them BBS system operators.
As Mike says, SPITFIRE Sysops are topnotch folks."
Currently, he's waiting for a 386sx/25 upgrade to his present 286 board.
With it installed, he'll be running full strength inside Desqview and with
Lantastic AI.
"I'll have 340 megs online then...and, quite frankly, I can't wait."
╒════════════════════════════════════╕
│ NEWLY REGISTERED SPITFIRE SYSTEMS │
╘════════════════════════════════════╛
A hearty welcome is extended to the following, who have
recently become public registered SPITFIRE Bulletin Board Systems:
Norwalk Highland BBS......................515-961-0729...2400 Baud
Harold Allen, Sysop..................................Norwalk, Iowa
PC-INFO.................................. 302-335-0749...2400 Baud
Dan Mumford, Sysop..............................Magnolia, Delaware
Liberty Bell II...........................505-438-9522...2400 Baud
Maurice R. McDonald, Sysop....................Sante Fe, New Mexico
L & S BBS.................................207-328-6364...2400 Baud
Larry Shannon, Sysop..................Loring Air Force Base, Maine
Altered Reality...........................817-348-8382...9600 Baud
David Cattoi, Sysop..............................Fort Worth, Texas
Daytech, Inc. BBS.........................503-641-6647...2400 Baud
No Sysop Information.............................Beaverton, Oregon
Farkem Asylum.............................913-273-2589...2400 Baud
Scott Reigle, Sysop.................................Topeka, Kansas
Construction/Safety Specialties...........916-482-4608...2400 Baud
Perry Dedrick, Sysop.......................Elizabethtown, Kentucky
The Software Shop.........................708-759-6404...9600 Baud
Cliff Carr, Susop............................Bolingbrook, Illinois
Thunderstorm BBS..........................613-7475-3206..2400 Baud
Darrell Wood, Sysop......................Brighton, Ontario, Canada
The Bad Element BBS.......................513-625-0020...2400 Baud
Debbie Caudell, Sysop.................................Goshen, Ohio
Bad Company BBS...........................803-797-1981..38400 Baud
Mark VeVeneau, Sysop....................Goosecreek, South Carolina
Excalibur.................................307-682-3209...2400 Baud
Vieter Awiszus, Sysop............................Gillette, Wyoming
Cast Away Cove BBS........................519-977-1157...2400 Baud
Jeff Desjarlaif, Sysop....................Windsor, Ontario, Canada
PC Junction...............................919-424-5859...2400 Baud
Ken Lake, Sysop.........................Hope Mills, North Carolina
The Data Shop.............................501-234-3617..12000 Baud
Ken Squyres, Sysop...............................Magnolia, Arkasas
The Alternate World.......................602-937-7541...2400 Baud
Kevin Summers, Sysop.............................Glendale, Arizona
Elko's PC Connection......................702-738-4364...9600 Baud
John Kranz, Sysop...................................Elko, Nebraska
"Valley BBS"..............................614-622-3245...2400 Baud
Paul Hardesty, Sysop...............................Cofhocton, Ohio
The Unlimited Board.......................416-784-5616...9600 Baud
Danny DeBios, Sysop.......................Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Race City BBS.............................403-438-6971...2400 Baud
Sean Moran, Sysop.......................Edmington, Alberta, Canada
Plain Brown Wrapper.......................702-898-1072..19200 Baud
James Cory, Sysop................................Henderson, Nevada
F4, The Data Ease Resource................312-380-7603...2400 Baud
No Sysop Information.............................Chicago, Illinois
MCHS - BBS................................315-769-0165...2400 Baud
No Sysop Information.............................Meffena, New York
Chinchilla' BBS..........................33-1-40607392...2400 Baud
Karim Kabbabe, Sysop.................................Paris, France
In addition, there were 9 new private SPITFIRE BBS Systems
registered. These private SPITFIRE BBS's included registrations
from: Glen Burn, Maryland; Puyallup, Washington; Germantown,
Wisconsin; Lakeland Florida; Colorado Springs, Colorado; Sudbury,
Ontario, Canada; Auckland, New Zealand; Springvale, Maine; and
Sante Clara, California.
There were 17 registrations for whom registration information was
incomplete. These included BBS's in: Glenview, Illinois; Edmington,
Alberta, Canada; Columbus, Mississippi; 2 in Elizabethtown, Kentucky;
Carriere, Mississippi; Omaha, Nebraska; Fredericton, New Brunswick,
Canada; Snellville, Georgia; Shrevport, Louisiana; Las Vegas, Nevada;
Muskegon, Michigan; Puteaux, France; Des Moines, Iowa; Indianaplis,
Indiana; Lincoln, Nebraska; and North Lauderdale, Florida.
The increase in registrations where information is incomplete is
largely due to Buffalo Creek's Software's new 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.Source note
This reading edition was decoded from SF02-92.TXT in the original SF02-92.ZIP package. The page date records the preserved archive timestamp; it is not a newly inferred publication date.