Subj : Questions from a perspective sysop?
To   : Main.General
From : Al Puzzuoli
Date : Fri May 02 2003 04:30 pm

Hello,

I am a newcomer to this bbs, and to Synchronet in general.  I am 
considering the setup of a small bbs to use as a community forum for 
folks in the metro detroit area, and synchronet seems like the best 
option by far.

I have a few general questions, and one of a technical nature:

1.  I have downloaded and installed Synchronet on a system running 
Windows XP.  It is working fine for the most part.  However, I have 
noticed that at present, the only command shells that appear to be 
accessible are the Synchronet ones.  I attempted to switch to both the 
Renegade and MajorBbs clones.  Neither of these presented menus but 
instead generated file not found errors.  How can I obtain and install 
the other shells?
2.  What sort of system requirements are advisable for running a board?  
I will probably dedicate a box to the system and at present, I think that 
the specs will be as follows: 
Pentium II running at 400 MHZ with 256 MB of memory.  The system has a 9 
gig scsi HD.  I don't anticipate having a ton of users logged in together 
at any given time so I'm hoping that this machine will suffice for 
starters.  I will be running out of my home and at present, my ISP is 
comcast.  They offer 1.5 down and 256 up as their standard package.  If 
necessary, I could upgrade to professional which offers 1.5 down and 384 
up.

I'm trying to decide on the best OS to use.  At present, the machine is 
running Windows 98 SE.  I don't know if this machine meets the min 
requirements for XP, so I'm considering using Linux.  My only question 
about running a Linux system would be the availability of external 
programs.  I'm assuming that none of the doors written for a dos 
environment would work under Linux?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts folks can offer.

--Al

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