._______ ._______  ._____.___ .___ ._______
:_.  ___\: .___  \ :         |: __|: ____  |  Setting up a telnet BBS
|  : |/\ | :   |  ||   \  /  || : ||    :  |  with COM/IP 2.2.3
|    /  \|     :  ||   |\/   ||   ||   |___|
|. _____/ \_. ___/ |___| |   ||   ||___|      spectre
 :/         :/           |___||___|           the low road ][ bbs
 :          :                                 telnet://tlr2bbs.darktech.org

[Getting Started]

You MUST not have Netmodem installed on your computer. Uninstall it before
installing COM/IP. COM/IP 2.2.3 now has the ability to emulate a fossil
driver on the redicted port. COM/IP's ports dont support error correction,
so connection speeds and screen writes may be a bit slower than using
Netmodem.

[Setup]

Unzip the COM/IP file into a temp dir and install. After it installs, it will
ask for what comport you wish COM/IP to redirect. Select 5 and check the
"Enable DOS/INIT14" Box. This enables to fossil driver option for COM5.
After the port is setup, click [REBOOT LATER]. Then a dialog box pops up
telling you there is no modem associated with this port. Select [SKIP] and
this box will shut down. You dont need to associate a virtual modem with the
COM/IP port. Now reboot your computer to finalize the installation process.

Now, click [START] - [PROGRAMS]  and goto the COM/IP dir and fire up the
COM/IP Manager. This will load and drop into the taskbar. Click the
icon. This shows what port you are setup with. Clicking "Configure" and
"Select Ports" should show you a check in from of COM5 and a check in
front of "Enable DOS/INIT14". Shut down this box and click on "DOS/INIT14
Settings". Here is where you define the parameters of the built in fossil
driver. Recommended settings:

                   Baud Rate : 38400 [depends on how your BBS is setup]
                   Word Length: 8
                   Parity : None
                   Stop Bits: 1

                   [X] Lock Settings on port

                   Queue Sizes: 4096 for recv/transmit

                   [X] Enable Fossil
                   [X] Coalesce Outgoing Data
                   [ ] Release Time slices when port idle
                   [X] Hold port open during MSDOS session


Select above settings and click [OK]

Make sure "Run on Windows startup" is checked so COM/IP loads up when Windows
does, making it available before you load the BBS.

If you want to view a connection when a user is on, you can select "Trace
Windows" and enable it. Keep in mind this logs everything, so the file can
grow large quite quickly.

Now, goto your SYSTEM PROPERTIES [START - MY COMPUTER - CONTROL PANEL -
SYSTEM] and select DEVICE MANAGER tab and click on "Ports" then "COM-IP
[COM5]". Now hit the "Port Settings" tab. Change this data to reflect your
BBS and fossil settings. Change "Flow Control" to "None". Ive been told
"None" works best. Ive also tried "Hardware" and that works fine as well.
"Xon/Xoff" wont. Click [OK] when done.


[BBS Setup]

This is the tricky part. The COM/IP port is essentially stupid. You need to
tell it how to work. Load up your BBS config program and for your INIT STRING,
enter this:

              ATS1001=1 S1002=1 S1003=6 S1005=0 S1008=23

The spaces between commands are optional. If you want, you can put the
S1008=23 command in the box in COM/IP where it ways "Init string" if it
wont fit in your BBS software. This is a crucial command that tells the
port to use port23, the default telnet port. If users complain of character
echo when they telnet in, try changing S1003=6 to S1003=7.

Make sure your BBS software is setup to use a FOSSIL driver. All other
init strings and commands are generic.


[Fossil Driving]

Tho COM/IP 2.2.3 has a built in fossil driver, you dont have to use it. If
you uncheck the "Enable DOS/INIT14" box for your COM port, you will need
to load one before loading the BBS. WinFOSSIL *will* work with COM/IP. If
you want to use it, install it and set the comport to the one COM/IP creates.
COM/IP does NOT directly support 16-BIT fossils like BNU/ADF/X00. If you want
to use them, you need to get a program called TURBOCOM, which will allow
these fossils to interact with Win32 com drivers. You need to load Turbocom
before initializing the fossil driver. Configuring them is the same way as
with other programs. The only difference is since COM/IP has no IRQ/BASE
ADDRESS settings, you must use the IRQS/BASES defined in Turbocom.

For ease of installation, I recommend using WinFOSSIL. Just make sure
the "Enable DOS/INIT14" box is unchecked when you arent using COM/IP's
built in drivers.

If you run Windows 2000 or NT4, then there is a seperate fossil driver
included with COM/IP called TSNT14.EXE which offers better performance.


[Epilogue]

All done. When you boot up your PC, COM/IP will fire up. If using
WinFOSSIL, that will fire up too. Fire up your BBS [load fossil first
if not using WinFOSSIL or you have "Enable DOS/INIT14" disabled in COM/IP].
Run redirect software. COM/IP will display info in the main display box
when it sees the BBS using the COM port or if a user hits it.

COM/IP is shareware. It can be run for 30 days. After this time, it will
no longer function. If you had previously tried out COM/IP and uninstalled
it, you wont be able to reinstall it. Follow below procedures to put COM/IP
back on our computer.

Run REGEDIT and scan for traces of COM/IP. Delete them. Then, edit your
WIN.INI file. Look near the end for this info or something like it:

[Solitaire]
tspn6d=867C69C21515AF30

If you find it, delete these lines. Then reinstall COM/IP and it will be
fine. Then if you decide to keep it, contact a COM/IP reseller for reg
information.

My thanks to those who offered me information regarding various settings
within this document. Several sources [whose names escape me] provided
the init string information. Some of it, I modified to suit my system.

Thanks to Desperado / Nomad Kno-Zone BBS [telnet://nomad.darktech.org] for
motivating me to release this document. Generally I need a kick in the
butt to get things done, and she did this for me <G>.

A million thanks to Mike Ehlert for dropping by my BBS and correcting a
few minor errors in this procedure. Mike runs archives.thebbs.org, the
best site for BBS software on the net. He is also a COM/IP reseller
and you can get all the 411 at http://www.pcmicro.com/comip. Another
suggested site is http://www.pcmicro.com/elebbs/faq/comip.html. This
offers more info on COM/IP and using a Win32 based BBS package with it.
Version 2.2.3 is the lastest release at this writing, with 3.0 on the
way soon. 

Finally, I can say this procedure worked for me, may not work for everyone,
tho it should. 

See ya,
spectre


