                             *** DPLINK 1.7 ***
          Part of the DPNET series: Internet Software for PowerBBS

                              by Detlef Pleiss

               Internet:   det@goliath.de
               Compuserve: 74101.755

               Download and Online Order:
               Internet:   http://dpsoft.powerbbs.com
                           http://www.abacus2.com
               Compuserve: GO PBBS

               Online Support Mailing List:
               To subscribe send a message to majordomo@mail.msen.com with
               "subscribe dpsoft" in the body (no quotes)

====================================================================
Files included in package:
DPIDENT.EXE  - IDENT Server, 16 bit Version
DPID32.EXE   - IDENT Server, 32 bit Version
DPLINK.EXE   - Main Program, 16 bit Version
DPLINK32.EXE - Main Program, 32 bit Version
DPLINK.ICO   - Icon for PowerGenerator Screens
DPLINK.INI   - Configuration File            prepared for the
CHAT.DAT     - PowerBBS Room Definitions     Global PowrCHAT Network
POWRCHAT.RTF - Introduction to the Global PowrCHAT Network
DPLINK.TXT   - This File
DPSOFT.TXT   - Information about DP Software Products
FILE_ID.DIZ  - Description for BBS File Lists
UPGRADE.TXT  - Upgrading from earlier Versions
====================================================================

The Basics of DPLINK

DPLINK for PowerBBS makes the IRC online chat network part of your BBS! Open
your chat rooms to the world. Chat traffic all around the clock! Connect your
chat rooms to other PowerBBS systems on the Global PowrCHAT Network! Seamless
integration of up to 10 IRC channels with your local chat rooms. DPLINK can
handle multiple concurrent connections to different IRC servers. DPLINK can,
also, act as an automatic DCC file receiver, so other IRC users can upload
files to your BBS.

Your system must be running PowerBBS and have a working Windows Socket TCP/IP
stack, a WINSOCK.DLL (WSOCK32.DLL for 32 bit). The type of connection to
your Internet provider doesn't matter. A simple dialup connection does the
job. This document does not explain how to get your TCP/IP stack up and
running. For that you need to refer to the documentation of the TCP/IP
software you're using or ask your Internet provider. DPLINK will not run if
you do not have a TCP/IP stack installed.

DPLINK maps up to 10 pre-configured local chat rooms to corresponding IRC
channels. IRC users on those channels see what your callers in the
corresponding chat room type and vice versa. By connecting to the Global
PowrCHAT Network you can connect your local chat rooms to those of other
PowerBBS systems world wide.

Only public messages can be exchanged via DPLINK. It is not possible to
forward private messages (whispers). You, the sysop, configure which channels
on what server(s) to link into your BBS. Users can take part in the discussion
on those channels, but they cannot issue commands, change channels or change
servers. The latter is only possible using DPIRC.

====================================================================

INSTALLATION

Installation for Windows 3.x (16 bit systems)

1.  Copy DPIDENT.EXE to your PowerBBS home directory.
    Except if your BBS nodes run on a LAN, connected to the Internet through a
    Proxy server. In that case read the chapter "DPIDENT.EXE / DPID32.EXE"
    below.
2.  Copy DPLINK.EXE to your PowerBBS home directory.
3.  Copy DPLINK.INI to your \windows home directory. On networked BBS systems
    you must have a copy of \windows\dplink.ini on each machine!

Installation for Windows 95 or Windows NT (32 bit systems)

1.  Copy DPID32.EXE to your \PowerBBS home directory.
    Except if your BBS nodes run on a LAN, connected to the Internet through a
    Proxy server. In that case read the chapter "DPIDENT.EXE / DPID32.EXE"
    below.
2.  Copy DPLINK32.EXE to your \PowerBBS home directory. Whenever this manual
    talks about DPLINK.EXE, the same is true for DPLINK32.EXE.
3.  Copy DPLINK.INI to your \windows home directory. On networked BBS systems
    you must have a copy of \windows\dplink.ini on each machine!

Installation continues here for both 16 and 32 bit Windows systems.

4.  If you have a file named CHAT.DAT in your \powrbbs home directory, rename
    it to CHATBAK.DAT. For a quick test copy CHAT.DAT from this distribution
    file to your \powrbbs home directory. Shut down all nodes and restart them
    for the changes to take effect. After running first tests, read the
    chapter "Configuring CHAT.DAT" below, merge your old configuration in
    CHATBAK.DAT with your new configuration and configure CHAT.DAT according
    to your needs.

5.  Edit some entries of \windows\DPLINK.INI (using any text editor).
    a)  For RealName= enter your email address if you have email installed on
        your system. If not enter your name on the system or just your real
        name. This information is needed during login to the IRC server. It
        can be retrieved by other IRC users.
    b)  Edit the NickName= entry which defines the name your system gets known
        by on IRC. Nicknames are restricted to 9 characters in length.
    c)  If your file locations differ from the default PowerBBS installation
        you need to edit the ChatFile1= and ChatFile2= entries of DPLINK.INI.
        Those entries must match your entries in PBBS CONFIG ->
        File Locations / Paths 2.

6.  Make sure your Windows Socket TCP/IP stack is running and online.

7.  Start DPIDENT (DPID32.EXE) and keep it running in the background.

8.  Start DPLink (DPLINK32.EXE). DPLink normally runs minimized. If you
    maximize its window, you will see some messages from the IRC server during
    login.

9.  Log in to your BBS. Enter one of the newly created chat rooms and you will
    be able to converse with IRC users!

The default installation of DPLINK automatically connects you to the Global
PowrCHAT network, where you can meet callers of other PowerBBS systems.

Rooms starting with "#pn_" are rooms on the Global PowrCHAT Network. For
further information on the Global PowrCHAT Network please read the file
PowrCHAT.RTF as enclosed in this distribution. The other preconfigured rooms
of the default installation are joined on irc.dal.net.

Note: The unregistered version of DPLINK allows only one operation mode where
it immediately connects to the IRC server(s) and joins all configured chat
rooms. This should be fine for evaluating the program. The registered version
additionally allows other operation modes tailored for the needs of a dialup
Internet connection. The registered version can be kept running in the
background, connecting to servers and joining chat rooms on demand only when
someone joins an IRC chat room on your BBS. The registered version can, also,
disconnect again automatically after an inactivity timeout keeping your online
time and bandwidth demand to the minimum. For more detail, see the section
"Operation Modes" below.

====================================================================

Running the Program

On startup DPLINK establishes connection(s) to the configured IRC server(s). It
logs into them using the given nickname(s). As nicknames have to be unique
throughout an IRC network it may happen that another IRC user already uses
your nickname. In that case DPLINK will add a number, a running count, to the
nickname until a nickname is found that is accepted by the server. DPLINK
takes care of nicknames being limited to 9 characters in length. DPLINK uses
the nickname as the username given to the server during login and for
Identification Protocol verification.

On startup, DPLINK tries to determine the DNS name of your computer, as this
information is needed during login. In case this attempt fails and you get
error messages while logging into an IRC server you may set this name by means
of the LocalHost= entry in DPLINK.INI. If this entry is set DPLINK will use it
and not try to determine your machine's DNS name automatically.

The real name information sent to the IRC server during login is taken from
the RealName= entry in DPLINK.INI.

After successful login the server displays a "Message of the Day" (MOTD). In
case something goes wrong an error message will appear on the DPLINK window
and the program shuts itself down after 10 seconds.

DPLINK then retrieves up to 10 IRC channel names from your CHAT.DAT and joins
all those channels on the given server(s). In case a channel did not exist on
IRC beforehand, it will be created. For optionally different behavior,
tailored for the needs of a dialup Internet connection, see the chapter
"Operation Modes" below.

After registering with the IRC server and joining the predefined channels,
DPLINK does its job of mapping IRC channels to chat rooms until shutdown. Your
BBS will show up with the nickname of your choice on all predefined channels.
The messages your users type appear on IRC consisting of their names plus the
messages they type (just like they appear on screen in local chat). This way
IRC users can determine who on your system typed what message. In contrast to
local chat, the user will see no spaces between user name and the ">" prompt
for messages from IRC. This way a local user can determine whether a message
came from the local system or from IRC.

Only one copy of DPLINK can run on the same computer at the same time.
Even on a networked BBS you should run only one copy of DPLINK for the whole
BBS.

====================================================================

Customization

DPLINK is customized by editing (use a text editor, like Notepad) DPLINK.INI
in your \windows directory.

The default IRC server connection is set by means of the DefaultServer=
entry.

It is up to you to select the nickname your system should appear with on IRC.
It is recommended you choose something short, like an abbreviation for your
system name. Nicknames can be up to 9 characters long. The nickname is
configured in the NickName= line of DPLINK.INI.

As RealName= enter your email address if you have email installed on your
system. If not enter your user name on the system or your real name.

You may customize the following text strings:

Joined=     Message text to announce new people joining the current channel.
            Text is prefixed by the name of that person.
            Setting this entry to "none" disables the message entirely.

Parted=     Message text to announce people leaving the current channel.
            Text is prefixed by the name of that person.
            Setting this entry to "none" disables the message entirely.

LeftIRC=    Message text to announce someone left IRC entirely. As the original
            message from the IRC server does not tell about the channels the
            person has been on beforehand, this message gets broadcast to all
            IRC chat rooms. Text is prefixed by the name of that person.
            Setting this entry to "none" disables the message entirely.

Kicked=     Message text to announce being kicked from an IRC channel. As the
            BBS account and not a single user gets kicked, no more traffic will
            be imported to that chat room after getting kicked. See the
            "Operation Modes" chapter (especially the "AutoJoin" setting) below
            on how to avoid getting kicked for inactivity. If someone else gets
            kicked from an IRC channel this message will be prefixed by that
            persons nickname.
            Setting this entry to "none" disables the message entirely.

Away=       Message displayed to someone on IRC who tries to send a private
            message to your system. As those messages cannot be delivered the
            given text will be displayed to someone who tries anyway. If you
            like you can add a short explanation on what your nick name
            represents, your BBS, maybe even the phone number.

ShutDown=   Message text to announce shut down of the DPLINK program. This
            message gets broadcast to all IRC chat rooms.

PleaseWait= Message to announce a dial-up operation taking place on your
            system

====================================================================

Configuring CHAT.DAT

The standard use of CHAT.DAT in PowerBBS is explained in chapter 9.4:
"Customizing your Teleconference" of the PowerBBS manual: PBBS50.DOC. Please
read that first.

In order to define chat rooms to be linked to IRC you need to edit CHAT.DAT in
your \powrbbs home directory using any text editor, like Notepad. DPLINK
determines which rooms to link to IRC in that all rooms to be linked have
names that begin with a "#" character. The name of the room to be linked is
just the name of the IRC channel (IRC channel names start with a "#"). You may
want to include a notice in your CHATHELP screen that the rooms beginning with
a "#" are the ones that are linked to IRC. You can use all configuration
options as explained in the PowerBBS documentation. For example, you can
restrict certain chat rooms to "adult" security levels. You may define both
local chat rooms and IRC chat rooms in your CHAT.DAT. DPLINK just looks for
the "#" as the first character of the room name. So, if you renamed your
CHAT.DAT to CHATBAK.DAT during installation, just merge its entries with the
CHAT.DAT you copied from this distribution, in order to get your previously
configured local chat rooms back. After that you may delete CHATBAK.DAT. The
maximum number of IRC chat rooms is 10. DPLINK will not run if you did not
define at least one IRC chat room (name beginning with a '#').

A room definition line in CHAT.DAT has the following format:

R;[Room Title];[Private Y/N];[Moderator];[Optional Security Levels]

If the [Room Title] begins with a '#' character, DPLINK recognizes it as IRC
chat room.

You can optionally define a "topic" line for each IRC chat room by adding a

T;[Existing Title of Room];[Topic]

line to CHAT.DAT. DPLINK then attempts to set the corresponding IRC channel to
the given topic. Setting the topic normally succeeds if DPLink creates a new
IRC channel. Setting the topic on a channel may fail if the channel already
exists prior to DPLINK joining in.

DPLINK can connect to several IRC servers at once. You can optionally
configure a chat room to be joined on an alternate server by adding a

S;[Existing Title of Room];[Server Address];[Nickname];[NickServ Password]

line to CHAT.DAT. DPLINK will then join this channel on the given IRC server.
The server address may contain a colon followed by the port number to connect
to. The default is connecting to port 6667. If there is no 'S' line given for
an IRC chat room, DPLINK joins this room on the server given by the
"DefaultServer=" entry in DPLINK.INI.

Please do not attempt to connect to different IRC servers on the same IRC
network, only use this feature to connect to different servers that are not
interconnected. If you use the same server for multiple chat rooms, in each of
their 'S' lines use the exact same spelling for the server address (i.e. do
not use an IP address in one line and the DNS name of the same server in
another line).

The nickname entry is optional, in case you want to use a different nickname
on that server. If that entry is not given, DPLINK uses the nickname as given
in the "NickName=" line of DPLINK.INI. If that server runs NickServ and you
registered your nickname with it, you may add the NickServ password entry to
the 'S' line. This entry is optional. Only, if you use it, the nickname entry
has to be present as well.

PowerBBS itself does not care about the 'T' or 'S' lines, only DPLink uses
them for its configuration.

After applying any changes to CHAT.DAT, remember to shut down DPLINK and all
PowerBBS nodes and then restart them to have the changes take effect.

====================================================================

Operation Modes

Permanent Connection Mode

This is the only operation mode available in the unregistered version. It is
useful mainly for evaluating the program. Even if you have a permanent
Internet connection you may want to switch to one of the following modes once
you register DPLINK. In this mode DPLINK connects to all configured IRC
servers and joins all configured chat rooms immediately upon startup.

While for the registered version the following modes are preferable, you can
create a button on a PGen screen to allow callers to launch DPLINK. In that
case you may want to have DPLINK shut down again automatically. This can be
achieved by filling in the Inactivity= line in DPLINK.INI. The (decimal) value
given as "Inactivity=" parameter is the number of seconds of inactivity after
that DPLINK shuts down itself. Inactivity refers to the activity of users
typing in the IRC chat rooms. So if there is no typing in any IRC chat room
for the given number of seconds DLPLINK shuts itself down. You may want to use
this parameter if you're running DPLINK in this "Permanent Connection Mode" on
a dialup Internet connection because while you're connected to an IRC server
there is always some traffic, prohibiting modem timeouts from kicking in. The
default "Inactivity=" value is 0, meaning no shutdown of the program due to
inactivity.

AutoJoin Mode

This mode is only available for registered DPLINK customers. In this mode
DPLINK still maintains permanent connection(s) to the IRC server(s), but
avoids getting kicked from channels due to inactivity. On some
servers/channels you get kicked from a channel if you join it but do not
participate in the chat. DPLINK would then loose the input from that channel
and only restarting the program would re-join the given channel.

The AutoJoin feature is activated by having the line
AutoJoin=1
in your DPLINK.INI file. It is de-activated by having the line
AutoJoin=0
in your DPLINK.INI file. AutoJoin is de-activated by default.

If AutoJoin is activated DPLINK will *not* join all predefined channels on
startup but only connect to and register with the IRC server(s). It will only
join a given IRC channel if a user actually types something in that channel.
The user command '/C' (see "User Commands" below) was implemented to allow
users to join that channel without sending a chat message initially. If you
activate AutoJoin you will need to tell your callers that they need to type
'/C' initially after joining a room before they'll see anything going on.

To avoid getting kicked from a channel for inactivity once all local users
leave the chat room, it is recommended that you set the
AutoLeave=
parameter to an appropriate value. The (decimal) value given as parameter is
the number of seconds of inactivity in one IRC chat room after which DPLINK
leaves that particular channel. The "AutoLeave=" function is only activated if
you set "AutoJoin=" to 1.

Background Mode

This mode is only available for registered DPLINK customers. In this mode you
can keep DPLINK running permanently in background, as it only activates
connections on demand and closes connections down again after some inactivity
timeout. This should be the preferred mode for registered users in most cases.
You may want to launch DPLINK from your autostart/startup group, just like
DPIDENT. To switch DPLINK into background mode, have the line
AutoConnect=1
in your DPLINK.INI file. (Having "AutoConnect=0" disables the AutoConnect
feature). Switching "AutoConnect" on, automatically switches on "AutoJoin" (see
above) too, regardless of the entry in DPLINK.INI.

If "AutoConnect" is on, DPLINK will *not* connect to IRC server(s) on startup
but only when it JOINs the first channel on a server. So, when someone enters
an IRC chat room that has not been active before, DPLINK first connects to the
IRC server for that channel (if no connection to that server exists yet) and
then joins the given channel on that server. Things will only work properly in
"Background Mode" if your users type "/C" initially when entering an IRC chat
room. Please make that very clear to your callers.

It is recommended to set AutoLeave (see above) to an appropriate value when
using AutoConnect. With AutoConnect on, DPLINK will shut down the connection
to the IRC server when the last channel is left due to timeout. It is
recommended to set Inactivity to 0 when using AutoConnect as in "Background
Mode" there is no need to shut down the program. Summary: In order to run
DPLINK in "Background Mode" have entries like these in DPLINK.INI:

Inactivity=0
AutoJoin=1
AutoLeave=600
AutoConnect=1

====================================================================

Global PowerCHAT Network Configuration Notes

If you are a registered user of DPLINK and connect to the Global PowrCHAT
Network, please configure it to run in "Background Mode" in order to keep
network traffic to a minimum! See the summary of DPLINK.INI entries above. In
order to participate in the Global PowrCHAT Network, you must enter your valid
email address as the "RealName=" entry in DPLINK.INI. In case a user on your
system misbehaves, this address is needed to notify you about the problem. If
you cannot be reached under your email address, this may result in having your
BBS removed completely from the Global PowrCHAT Network.

The #pn_PowerBBS channel is meant as a meeting place for PowrBBS sysops, not
for the average caller. Therefore it has a security level of 150 assigned in
the CHAT.DAT that comes with the DPLINK distribution. So you, the Sysop, will
be able to join in there, but other callers won't see that chat room.

====================================================================

User Commands

If the user types a line beginning with a slash '/' character it is
interpreted as a command. It may show up in the local chat room but is not
forwarded to IRC. The following commands are defined:

/C = Join CHAT in current room. The user should type this on entry to a IRC
     chat room if you activated the AutoJoin or AutoConnect feature

/N = Display NAMES of IRC participants in the current IRC chat room.

Remember to tell your users about these commands on one of your help screens!

====================================================================

NICKSERV Support

If the IRC server you connect to offers NICKSERV services, you may register
your nickname with it, so no one else can use it. In that case you have a
password to identify yourself as the owner of that nickname. If you registered
your nickname with NICKSERV, enter your password at the "NickServ" line of
DPLINK.INI:

NickServ=       your password, if registered with NICKSERV

====================================================================

The DCC File Receiver

DCC is a protocol that uses direct TCP connections between two IRC clients.
This connection can be used for different purposes. One of them is
transferring a file from one client to the other. One client offers a file for
download to the other client. The other client may then accept the offer and
receive the file. The DCC File Receiver in DPLink automatically accepts and
receives any files offered via DCC to the nickname DPLINK uses for your system
on IRC.  Files received via DCC are stored in a file area of your BBS.

A word of WARNING: Activating the DCC File Receiver allows anyone on IRC to
send any files he likes to the configured directory on your hard disk. Beware
of viruses or Trojan horses and warn your callers to check carefully whatever
they download from that area. Quoting the original DCC document:
"SEND connection types should not be accepted automatically as this would
create the potential for terrorism." Anyway that is what DPLink's DCC File
Receiver does, accepting file sends automatically.

So, here is how to activate the DCC File Receiver:
In PowerBBS Config create a file area for your DCC files. Set access rights to
that file area as you see fit. The directory you choose to receive files must
exist before the DCC File Receiver can work. Once you have created/designated
this directory add the following lines to your DPLINK.INI:

DCCFolder=      path to the directory for your DCC file area
DCCListing=     path to the listing file for your DCC file area

DPLINK's DCC File Receiver only adds files to the DCC file area. It is up to
you to keep an eye on available hard disk space and to delete old files or
move the interesting ones over to the appropriate local file areas. Both can
be done with the PowerBBS CONFIG program.

====================================================================

DPIDENT.EXE / DPID32.EXE

Most IRC servers require verification of the login data using the
Identification Protocol (as defined in RFC 1413). DPIDENT.EXE (32bit version:
DPID32.EXE) is a server for that protocol and has to be running in the
background in order to make this verification (and thus the login) succeed.
DPIDENT is the same for DPIRC, DPLINK and DPPP. Just one copy of DPIDENT per
machine works for multiple nodes running the named programs. You may want to
put it in your autostart/startup group/folder. Just make sure DPIDENT is
running before a user tries to connect to an IRC server that requires
Identification Protocol verification. Data exchange between applications and
DPIDENT takes place using the file DPIDENT.INI in your \windows home
directory. If you have a DPIDENT.INI in your PowerBBS home directory from an
older version, you may delete it. You don't need to touch this file but as
long as no application (DPIDENT, DPPP, DPIRC or DPLINK) is running, you may
delete this file (i.e. during daily maintenance).
If your BBS runs on a LAN, connected to the Internet through a Proxy server,
DPIDENT can not answer Identification Protocol requests if it is running on
the LAN machines, that do not have a direct Internet connection. In that case
there is no need to have it running on the LAN machines, but instead have a
copy of DPIDENT running in the background on the Gateway machine, the one that
runs the Proxy server, the one that has the actual Internet connection. As in
that configuration, DPIDENT does not know about the users who logged on to the
different BBS nodes, you need to tell it a user name that it should use to
answer *all* incoming Identification Protocol requests. In order to so, create
a file DPIDENT.INI in the \windows home directory on the Gateway machine,
where DPIDENT is running. Using any text editor, like Notepad, enter two lines
in that file that read:

[DPIDENT]
fixedid=<ident response>

For <ident response> insert whatever identification DPIDENT should send out,
i.e. an abbreviation for your BBS name.

====================================================================

Dial-Up Support

DPLINK supports dialup connections to your provider in that you can specify
the

Dialup= full path to batch file

to initiate a dial-up Internet connection parameter in DPLINK.INI.

If configured, this batch file is called before DPLINK connects to a server.
Its purpose is to initiate a dialup connection in case your Windows Socket
stack doesn't dial-on-demand.

Before running the batch file, DPLINK creates a file DPLINK.DU. DPLINK then
waits until this file disappears. The batch file indicates when it's finished
by deleting this file. The filename is given as parameter %1 to the batch
file. The batch file must therefore end with a "del %1" line.

You can use the same dial-up batch file for DPLINK and for DPPP. In general it
is preferable if the TCP/IP stack does support dial-on-demand. If it does, do
not configure this entry in DPLINK.INI.

Before launching the batch file, DPLINK sends its "please wait" message to the
chat rooms. The "please wait" message can be configured in DPLINK.INI with the

PleaseWait=  message to be displayed during dial-up

line.

====================================================================

Proxy Support

DPLINK supports running transparently through a Proxy server. If your BBS runs
multiple nodes on multiple machines on a LAN, while only one of these machines
has an actual Internet connection, you may be running a Proxy server on that
machine.

A Proxy server is the sort of software that most often is advertised like
"connect your entire LAN to the Internet with only one dialup account". When
going through a Proxy, DPLINK connects to IRC servers using the Telnet gateway
of your Proxy server. Your Proxy must support forwarding Telnet connections.
It is not necessary to configure special TCP bridges on the Proxy for DPLINK.
When going through the Proxy, DPLINK does not connect to IRC servers directly,
but first to the Telnet port of the Proxy server. It waits to receive a prompt
which it answers by sending the Internet address of the IRC server to connect
to. Per default, it automatically adds a ":6667" to the server name, so it
connects to the default IRC port. In order to activate Proxy support, you need
to fill in these entries in DPLINK.INI:

ProxyAddress=   IP address (on the LAN) of your Proxy server
ProxyPrompt=    text DPLINK waits for before sending the IRC server address
ProxyConnected= text from the Proxy server to announce a successful connect

DPLINK then connects to the given "ProxyAddress", waits for the given
"ProxyPrompt" and then sends the given server address plus port to the Proxy.
After it receives the "ProxyConnected" message from the Proxy server it then
continues to work with the IRC server as usual.

====================================================================

Overview of DPLINK.INI Parameters

[DPLINK]
DefaultServer=  default IRC server to connect to
LocalHost=      Internet name of BBS computer (default: retrieve automatically)
NickName=       your  system's nick name on IRC
NickServ=       NICKSERV password for a registered nickname
RealName=       real name information required for login
Inactivity=     shut down DPLINK after given number of seconds of inactivity
                in all IRC chat rooms. Inactivity=0 means "do not shut down
                automatically".
AutoJoin=       0 to de-activate, 1 to activate "AutoJoin"ing of IRC channels
                on demand (registered users only)
AutoLeave=      leave IRC channel after given number of seconds of inactivity
                in that particular IRC chat room. Activated only in conjunction
                with AutoJoin=1. AutoLeave=0 means "do not leave channels
                automatically". (registered users only)
AutoConnect=    0 to de-activate, 1 to activate "AutoConnect" feature
                (registered users only)
# Strings       (this is just a comment line)
Joined=         message text to announce people joining the current channel
                "none" to disable the message entirely
Parted=         message text to announce people leaving the current channel
                "none" to disable the message entirely
LeftIRC=        message text to announce people leaving IRC
                "none" to disable the message entirely
Kicked=         message text to announce getting kicked from channel
                "none" to disable the message entirely
Away=           message sent to IRC users trying to send private messages to
                your systems nick name
ShutDown=       message text to announce DPLINK shutdown
PleaseWait=     message to be displayed during dial-up
# Paths from Config -> File Locations / Paths 2
ChatFile1=      default: userinfo.net
ChatFile2=      default: talkinfo.net
DialUp=         path to batch file to initiate a dial-up Internet connection
ProxyAddress=   IP address (on the LAN) of your Proxy server (if using one)
ProxyPrompt=    prompt to wait for from the Telnet proxy
ProxyConnected= text from the Proxy server to announce a successful connect
# DCC File Receiver - default: disabled
DCCFolder=      path to the directory for your DCC file area
DCCListing=     path to the listing file of your DCC file area

====================================================================

Further Reading

RFC 1413 Identification Protocol
RFC 1459 Internet Relay Chat Protocol
http://www.irchelp.org
IRC channel #irchelp

====================================================================

Registration and Disclaimer

DPLINK is shareware. It is neither free, nor freeware nor in the public
domain. The unregistered version may be distributed freely in its unaltered
form. This software is provided as is. Detlef Pleiss disclaims all warranties,
either expressed or implied, including but not limited to implied warranties
of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose. In no event will Detlef
Pleiss be liable to you for damages, including any loss of data, profits, lost
savings, or other incidental or consequential damages arising out of your use
or inability to use the software. Use at your own risk.

The unregistered version of DPLINK will shut down itself after about 10
minutes. The AutoJoin/AutoLeave/AutoConnect features are only available to
registered users of DPLINK. These restrictions will vanish after applying your
registration code to DPLINK.

Online registration is available at
http://addons.powerbbs.com/pleiss.htm
and
http://www.abacus2.com
and via Compuserve GO SWREG, ID 11808.

Registration fee is $20.

After registering you'll receive a registration code that is valid for your
name and your BBS name. If registering at Compuserve, please send Compuserve
mail to 74101.755 stating which program you registered, your name and your BBS
name. This information will be needed. Registration can not be transferred. If
either your name or your BBS name changes a new registration fee is required.

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History of DPLINK:

v 1.0 - completed: Jun 5 1996
        not publicly released
v 1.1 - released: Jun 9 1996
        now displays NICK and USER commands
        enforced 9 character nickname limit
        now properly displays actions
v 1.2 - released: Jun 14 1996
        fixes a problem with mixing upper and lower case in nick-/user-names
        DPIdent now has an icon :)
v 1.3 - released: Jun 15 1996
        now compatible to Trumpet Winsocket
v 1.4 - released: Jul 1 1996
        Fixed GPF that occurred at some sites with some IRC servers
        Spaces between user name and ">" prompt are no longer forwarded to IRC
        Messages from DPLink, the IRC server and error messages now get
           broadcast to all IRC rooms
        Changing nickname (if nickname was in use) now really works as setting
           the AWAY message and JOINING rooms only takes place after
           registering with the IRC server successfully
        On entry to a channel the TOPIC of that channel (if set) and the NAMES
           list get displayed
        Optional AutoJoin/AutoLeave feature to join and leave channels "on
           demand" in order to avoid getting kicked for inactivity
        Users can request a NAMES list of the current channel by typing /N
v 1.5 - released: Aug 7 1996
        added AutoConnect feature
        added 32 bit versions of DPLINK and DPIDENT
v 1.6 - released: Sep 12 1996
        fixed login problem with some servers
        DPIDENT: fixed problem with request format of some servers
v 1.7 - released: Mar 10 1998
        fixed DPLINK not re-connecting after a failed (auto-)connect
        fixed trailing spaces in outgoing messages
        added NickServ compatibility
        DPPP compatibility
        moved INI location to \windows
        added option to set channel topics
        made "Joined", "Parted", "LeftIRC" and "Kicked" messages optional
        added automatic DCC File Receiver
        added ability to connect to multiple IRC servers concurrently
        added dialup batch support and "PleaseWait" message
        added Proxy support to DPLINK and DPIDENT
        added configuration for the Global PowrCHAT Network
