DOVEnet

OhASys · Post by **OhASys** » Wed Jun 27, 2012 12:03 pm

Just a heads up.

I am currently working on a solution to allow all WG 3.3 systems to participate in DOVEnet, without the mess of the past

I will keep everyone updated as to the progress soon.

OhASys - pheedom.net

Franchise_24 · Post by **Franchise_24** » Wed Jun 27, 2012 1:47 pm

Please do! I would be extremely interested in this. Linked forums are the one thing my WG system is desperately missing. When I ran Synchronet that was the nice thing being able to participate in the forums. That would be a big +1 for WG if we can do it.

What type of time frame are you thinking?

dspain · Post by **dspain** » Thu Jun 28, 2012 8:07 am

OhASys wrote:Just a heads up.

I am currently working on a solution to allow all WG 3.3 systems to participate in DOVEnet, without the mess of the past

I will keep everyone updated as to the progress soon.

OhASys - pheedom.net

thats great news, i made a few attempts at qwk-net networking before but the damn packets were getting corrupted, would this new methid allow the addition of any qwk-network? this could be a viable solution to starting another majornet, etc...

OhASys · Post by **OhASys** » Thu Jun 28, 2012 12:41 pm

Well I have made some progress but I am doing this a bit on the side. I am hoping soon.

My frist attempt was to just try to link Worldlink forums to DoveNet via a Synchronet/WG combo. But the problem there is it really doesn't work for the identity requirements for Dovenet.

the MHS in WG itself is quite flexible, Now, its just getting it to properly toss the messages into the forums at this point. Right now, it takes all the QWK packages and dumps them into one forum, and that's kind of useless

Franchise_24 · Post by **Franchise_24** » Fri Jul 06, 2012 4:06 pm

Any updates on getting dove net working?

OhASys · Post by **OhASys** » Sun Jul 08, 2012 11:28 am

Due to some family issues, I did not get the time I wanted this week to work on it.

I will resume next week and hopefully have an updated progress report by Friday.

My schedule and Rob @ Syncrhonet's always don't mesh up so that adds some delays in getting questions answered as well

OhASys · Post by **OhASys** » Wed Jul 11, 2012 12:57 pm

Does anyone know how to reach CSS? His board is down, and I am not sure if he is active in these forums anymore.

Franchise_24 · Post by **Franchise_24** » Wed Jul 11, 2012 1:28 pm

I don't believe that board has been online for quite some time now... About 2 years ago when I started it was down and he wasn't active on the forums...

Vector · Post by **Vector** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 12:43 am

I've got WG 3.3 able to retrieve and properly "file" DOVE-Net forums using the same DNews software that CCS was using way back when. Combonation of DNews and the NNTP services built into WG.

I haven't tried posting yet, not sure what will happen. Still trying to work out a few kinks on how far back it downloads stuff.

Only snag so far is it seems Worldgroup tags the date of the message the day it was fed the feed from DNews. No way around this. Future posts won't really be an issue as there should only be a 5 minute delay (or more if you set your fetching longer).

Oh, and posting, haven't even explored that yet.

The "(E)Mail Reply" feature will likely never work with this method, as all the DOVE-Net messages are not Internet route-able and WG expects that since it things DOVE-Net is a usegroup.

Meh, I'm rambling. Enough progress for one evening.

dspain · Post by **dspain** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 8:13 pm

Vector wrote:I've got WG 3.3 able to retrieve and properly "file" DOVE-Net forums using the same DNews software that CCS was using way back when. Combonation of DNews and the NNTP services built into WG.

I haven't tried posting yet, not sure what will happen. Still trying to work out a few kinks on how far back it downloads stuff.

Only snag so far is it seems Worldgroup tags the date of the message the day it was fed the feed from DNews. No way around this. Future posts won't really be an issue as there should only be a 5 minute delay (or more if you set your fetching longer).

Oh, and posting, haven't even explored that yet.

hmm it is possible to have the message reformatted using a program to open the btrieve file and change the date? only downside is btrieve is so clunky it could cause a bit of lag, but if a simple date is the only problem
prolly not even worth playing with.

The "(E)Mail Reply" feature will likely never work with this method, as all the DOVE-Net messages are not Internet route-able and WG expects that since it things DOVE-Net is a usegroup.

Meh, I'm rambling. Enough progress for one evening.

Vector · Post by **Vector** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 9:34 pm

Hey Dan,

I don't think it would be worth the effort because it's only an issue on your initial import. After the fact unless your DNews server goes down, the messages will be time stamped within 5 minutes (or whatever your pull interval is) of the actual time or so. It's just that first import when you download say, the last 100 messages, they all have the same time/date.

Dave

dspain wrote:hmm it is possible to have the message reformatted using a program to open the btrieve file and change the date? only downside is btrieve is so clunky it could cause a bit of lag, but if a simple date is the only problem prolly not even worth playing with.

Vector wrote:Only snag so far is it seems Worldgroup tags the date of the message the day it was fed the feed from DNews. No way around this. Future posts won't really be an issue as there should only be a 5 minute delay (or more if you set your fetching longer).

Vector · Post by **Vector** » Thu Jul 19, 2012 1:06 pm

I've been testing 3 DOVE-Net echos on my board using the DNews as the "proxy" and it seems to be working reliably well at pulling the information and filing it properly in the right forum without any "interaction" from me.

I still have a couple DNews configuration bits to work out, but it can most likely be solved by telling DNews to cache the groups you want for 1000 days or something similar.

I have not yet attempted to post to DOVE-Net and will be tinkering with that probably in the next two weeks.

I have the General, Entertainment, and Ham Radio echos pulling into Starbase 21 for anyone who wants to check it out. /GO FORUMS is where it's at.

dspain · Post by **dspain** » Thu Jul 19, 2012 1:11 pm

Vector wrote:I've been testing 3 DOVE-Net echos on my board using the DNews as the "proxy" and it seems to be working reliably well at pulling the information and filing it properly in the right forum without any "interaction" from me.

I still have a couple DNews configuration bits to work out, but it can most likely be solved by telling DNews to cache the groups you want for 1000 days or something similar.

I have not yet attempted to post to DOVE-Net and will be tinkering with that probably in the next two weeks.

I have the General, Entertainment, and Ham Radio echos pulling into Starbase 21 for anyone who wants to check it out. /GO FORUMS is where it's at.

nice, im sure there is a way to make argus or radius work, i use those to pull fidonet and years ago there was a setup for major bbs and frontdoor 2.02 for majornet.

so it "CAN" work just a matter of how.

Vector · Post by **Vector** » Thu Jul 19, 2012 1:47 pm

According to some older posts I've read Rob (Synchronet) says you can post to Synchronet via NNTP, so there's no reason WG + DNews won't be able to handle it. The only drawback is DNews is still pay for play software (no longer being developed/supported, but they'll still sell it to you) carrying a $485 for the unlimited users version, but since you don't set up any users on the DNews server (you just have it funneling feeds) itself then you could probably get by with the $95 single user version.

As for FidoNet, you can pull echos down with DNews from Synchronet's NNTP server (they have the Fido echos available on it), but you I don't think you'd be able to post to is as FidoNet requires you have one of their node addresses (i.e. Vector@1:396/31) to be able to feed into the FidoNet network. You'd have to have something MajorFido for that, assuming it would still work. We had it, but the disks are long since gone. Unless I'm missing something and if you post to Fido via Synchro's NNTP it uses their node address, but I can't see that working as there's no way to ensure everyone has a unique address between systems.

Iceman · Post by **Iceman** » Thu Jul 19, 2012 6:13 pm

Lack of knowledge here... but doesn't MailLink software from SIR handle all the network mail things? the old majornet forums and such? Perhaps that software could be modified in some fashion to support other networks, or it might already support them and just need the scripting worked out?

I wanted to say it was original Mountain Mail... but it seems MailLink by ISVSIR was the majornet handler?

Vector · Post by **Vector** » Thu Jul 19, 2012 7:28 pm

MailLink seems as if it was the key to MajorNet, but would likely need extensive source code modification to work with other networks such as DOVE or Fido.

I just heard back from Rob @ Synchronet and found out there's no reason that posting via NNTP on WG should be an issue, it's just a matter of tweaking DNews and WG to do it.

Iceman wrote:Lack of knowledge here... but doesn't MailLink software from SIR handle all the network mail things? the old majornet forums and such? Perhaps that software could be modified in some fashion to support other networks, or it might already support them and just need the scripting worked out?

I wanted to say it was original Mountain Mail... but it seems MailLink by ISVSIR was the majornet handler?

Franchise_24 · Post by **Franchise_24** » Thu Jul 19, 2012 8:25 pm

Isn't there some type of software we can use that's free or built in with WG? Seems kinda crazy to pay close to $100 just to get some linked message bases. The WordLink forums are already a joke. There's no activity, not many have added them, and half the forums don't work with the addresses they were given to use. I don't really see anyone spending money to be able to have message bases.

Vector · Post by **Vector** » Fri Jul 20, 2012 12:10 am

Another edit... I just read your post in WGSysop about the non-working groups.

Unless someone writes a 3.x NT module, I don't see a built-in way of doing it.

Let's be fair about the WorldLink forums, WorldLink has only been back on-line for something in the "months" category whereas Fidonet & DOVE-Net are in the "decades" of activity category.

The WorldLink forums seem to work fine for me, the only thing with mild activity is the Sysop forum, I posted something to the Ham Radio forum today to see if it pops up.

Vector wrote:I'm not having an issue with the WGSysop WL forum, and I posted in one of the empty ones today to see if it propagates out there. The WGSysop one is working well so I don't see any other reason the others won't. I'd be happy to assist and troubleshoot any WL forum issue you may have to the best of my ability. You can find me in the WorldLink main channel almost every day and evening of the week. (With the exception of this weekend, I'll be out of town.)

EDIT: I just noticed my post to the ham forum hasn't propagated to Pheedom's WL forum, so maybe there is an issue with some of them. I'm sure in due time we can correct these issues.

The majority of the Major BBS/WG userbase is MajorMUD scripters right now, and we know they're not posting in the forums, so I think calling the WL forums a joke at this phase is a little unfair. (No offense meant in that statement, just my opinion.)

As for DNews being $95, there are probably alternative software packages that will accomplish this that are free or less expensive, but a user on this forum CCS previously had this working (or at least had good theory on having this working) using DNews, so it was the logical place to start. DNews is just a full featured NNTP server, there's likely a Linux free/open source system that would work as well.

This particular experiment is mainly to figure out the mechanics and technical aspects of what is required to interface MBBS with DOVE-Net via NNTP (or really any linked message network that supports NNTP).

Vector (Dave)

Franchise_24 wrote:Isn't there some type of software we can use that's free or built in with WG? Seems kinda crazy to pay close to $100 just to get some linked message bases. The WordLink forums are already a joke. There's no activity, not many have added them, and half the forums don't work with the addresses they were given to use. I don't really see anyone spending money to be able to have message bases.

dspain · Post by **dspain** » Fri Jul 20, 2012 4:09 am

Vector wrote:Another edit... I just read your post in WGSysop about the non-working groups.

Unless someone writes a 3.x NT module, I don't see a built-in way of doing it.

Let's be fair about the WorldLink forums, WorldLink has only been back on-line for something in the "months" category whereas Fidonet & DOVE-Net are in the "decades" of activity category.

The WorldLink forums seem to work fine for me, the only thing with mild activity is the Sysop forum, I posted something to the Ham Radio forum today to see if it pops up.

Vector wrote:I'm not having an issue with the WGSysop WL forum, and I posted in one of the empty ones today to see if it propagates out there. The WGSysop one is working well so I don't see any other reason the others won't. I'd be happy to assist and troubleshoot any WL forum issue you may have to the best of my ability. You can find me in the WorldLink main channel almost every day and evening of the week. (With the exception of this weekend, I'll be out of town.)
EDIT: I just noticed my post to the ham forum hasn't propagated to Pheedom's WL forum, so maybe there is an issue with some of them. I'm sure in due time we can correct these issues.

The majority of the Major BBS/WG userbase is MajorMUD scripters right now, and we know they're not posting in the forums, so I think calling the WL forums a joke at this phase is a little unfair. (No offense meant in that statement, just my opinion.)

As for DNews being $95, there are probably alternative software packages that will accomplish this that are free or less expensive, but a user on this forum CCS previously had this working (or at least had good theory on having this working) using DNews, so it was the logical place to start. DNews is just a full featured NNTP server, there's likely a Linux free/open source system that would work as well.

This particular experiment is mainly to figure out the mechanics and technical aspects of what is required to interface MBBS with DOVE-Net via NNTP (or really any linked message network that supports NNTP).

Vector (Dave)

Franchise_24 wrote:Isn't there some type of software we can use that's free or built in with WG? Seems kinda crazy to pay close to $100 just to get some linked message bases. The WordLink forums are already a joke. There's no activity, not many have added them, and half the forums don't work with the addresses they were given to use. I don't really see anyone spending money to be able to have message bases.

i think given time and enough sysops learning of its revival online WL could grow into a huge system i mean DoveNet man i had this back in 1994 when i purchased synchronet 2.20 so it has been online for a bit and fidonet dates back to the 80's.

WL can grow but the problem is one man cannot run a huge network, and the team of people need to cover "everything worldgroup" not just what they think is good or not because forums are all about opinions and what you think is not a good forum 100 others may disagree, with that said we need forums for every single worldgroup game out there, even if they are only avalable on dos lets keep in mind alot of good systems out there still online running dos, again we may feel they need to come to nt but again thats our opinion.

we need worldgroup support forums for each version, a worldgroup developers forums again for dos and nt, then there is the just basic conversation echoes .. religion, gay discussion, republican politics, democrat politics, political war room (both parties going at it), again we can do this all day but we need whomever is handling the forum additions to be on top of this.

we can majke QWK networking work i mean QWK is as old as most bbs softwares out there nowadays and i got an old synchronet ft pscript that does all the work, each bbs connects to the hub as their qwkid and ftps rep packets and new messages, its a huge trial and error mess but i bet a few people dedicated to make it work could have it going in a couple months.

Toyduck · Post by **Toyduck** » Fri Jul 20, 2012 3:28 pm

Franchise_24 wrote:Isn't there some type of software we can use that's free or built in with WG? Seems kinda crazy to pay close to $100 just to get some linked message bases. The WordLink forums are already a joke. There's no activity, not many have added them, and half the forums don't work with the addresses they were given to use. I don't really see anyone spending money to be able to have message bases.

I've never used it, but Windows Server has a NNTP server (2000 - 2008). This is a feature that is not installed as part of the basic system, but needs to be specifically installed.

Vector · Post by **Vector** » Fri Jul 20, 2012 4:09 pm

A few updates on this...

I think I have it working. I successfully posted to DOVE-Net about 20 minutes ago for the first time. I can see it on my local NNTP server AND DOVE-Net's NNTP hub (vert.synchro.net).

I've traded a couple e-mails with someone at the makers of DNews. It's an old product that they no longer develop or want to support, but I'm seeing if there's a way to get a discount or free license for our purposes. They use to issue free licenses to people that would advertise their product for them or education purposes so I don't think it's so far fetched. You never know what you can get if you don't ask.

Alternatively a single license should be able to handle feeding DOVE-Net to multiple boards. I'd have to move it somewhere with a bit more bandwidth and reliability if it came to that. Right now DNews runs on the same machine as my board. Another idea would be if it is possible to feed the WorldLink hub with DNews somehow and have it feed DOVE-Net back and forth. Then MBBS/WG boards could just use the built-in Worldlink forums. That's me just talking out of my a** since I have no clue about the technical inner workings of the WL hub.

Vec

Toyduck wrote:
Franchise_24 wrote:Isn't there some type of software we can use that's free or built in with WG? Seems kinda crazy to pay close to $100 just to get some linked message bases. The WordLink forums are already a joke. There's no activity, not many have added them, and half the forums don't work with the addresses they were given to use. I don't really see anyone spending money to be able to have message bases.
I've never used it, but Windows Server has a NNTP server (2000 - 2008). This is a feature that is not installed as part of the basic system, but needs to be specifically installed.

dspain · Post by **dspain** » Sat Jul 21, 2012 1:02 am

Vector wrote:A few updates on this...

I think I have it working. I successfully posted to DOVE-Net about 20 minutes ago for the first time. I can see it on my local NNTP server AND DOVE-Net's NNTP hub (vert.synchro.net).

I've traded a couple e-mails with someone at the makers of DNews. It's an old product that they no longer develop or want to support, but I'm seeing if there's a way to get a discount or free license for our purposes. They use to issue free licenses to people that would advertise their product for them or education purposes so I don't think it's so far fetched. You never know what you can get if you don't ask.

Alternatively a single license should be able to handle feeding DOVE-Net to multiple boards. I'd have to move it somewhere with a bit more bandwidth and reliability if it came to that. Right now DNews runs on the same machine as my board. Another idea would be if it is possible to feed the WorldLink hub with DNews somehow and have it feed DOVE-Net back and forth. Then MBBS/WG boards could just use the built-in Worldlink forums. That's me just talking out of my a** since I have no clue about the technical inner workings of the WL hub.

Vec

Toyduck wrote:
Franchise_24 wrote:Isn't there some type of software we can use that's free or built in with WG? Seems kinda crazy to pay close to $100 just to get some linked message bases. The WordLink forums are already a joke. There's no activity, not many have added them, and half the forums don't work with the addresses they were given to use. I don't really see anyone spending money to be able to have message bases.
I've never used it, but Windows Server has a NNTP server (2000 - 2008). This is a feature that is not installed as part of the basic system, but needs to be specifically installed.

well dont Rob have dove-net capable of being setup as a news feed?
if so worldgroup has built in features to send/receive nntp feeds.
i remember in sync 3.10 being able to receive dovenet stuff as a newsgroup.

Vector · Post by **Vector** » Mon Jul 23, 2012 2:11 pm

First, I'm happy to post that DOVE-Net can be made to work 100% with Worldgroup and DNews. (Or, any NNTP server that meets some requirements.) I have posted to the DOVE-Net_Sysops group a couple times and have gotten replies. The only problem is there's one DOVE-Net group with a "/" in the name ("DOVE-Net.Hardware/Software Help"), which DNews rejects, so that one cannot be accessed. There may be a few other little bugs to work out, but I'm confident at this point all the major hurdles have been crossed.

I've traded a few e-mails with DNews regarding a possible discount for our purposes and they are willing to work with us, but it would depend on how many people, if any, that would be interested. The single user version is $95 and I've got no clue how far they'd come down if a few Sysops wanted it.

In response to dspain's post:

Yes, Vert (the DOVE-Net hub) is hosted on a Synchro board that has NNTP capabilities, that's exactly how I am making it work with DNews. Any NNTP server would work if it has the following capabilities:

1. Must be able to connect as a reader to vert.synchro.net and download messages.

2. Must be able to send an IHAVE feed to the Worldgroup BBS NNTP services.

3. Must be able to accept a POST (as a reader) from Worldgroup.

4. Must be able to send the accepted posts from Worldgroup (and only the accepted posts from Worldgroup) upstream as a POST (reader).

In the short, you download the feeds from vert.synchro.net, you IHAVE them over to Worldgroup, Worldgroup posts them to the "local" NNTP server and then your "local" NNTP server sends them upstream back to vert.synchro.net.

dspain wrote: well dont Rob have dove-net capable of being setup as a news feed?
if so worldgroup has built in features to send/receive nntp feeds.
i remember in sync 3.10 being able to receive dovenet stuff as a newsgroup.

Franchise_24 · Post by **Franchise_24** » Wed Jul 25, 2012 6:15 pm

Any update on DNews, or the availability of some other type of free software to use for DoveNet?

Vector · Post by **Vector** » Wed Jul 25, 2012 6:49 pm

DNews works, 100%. I'm sure there may be a few little bugs to work out for continued usage, but I think I can safely say it works 100% to interface WG with DOVE-Net.

As for price, my last communication with them they said they're willing to offer a discount, but based on how many people want to buy. No details whatsoever, but I'd suspect more buyers would be cheaper.

I have not had time to investigate alternative software, but a full featured NNTP server should be able to do the job. I don't know what's out there. I know there are Linux based and WinServer based ones, but that involves running another machine to make it work whereas DNews can run on the same system as WG without issue.

One copy of DNews could possibly serve every WG board that wanted it, but we'd need a more powerful machine and more bandwidth than what I have to do that. It would also require a bit more of tinkering.

If anyone else knows of a WinXP based NNTP server software that might do the trick and is free, I'm willing to give it a shot.

Vector

Franchise_24 wrote:Any update on DNews, or the availability of some other type of free software to use for DoveNet?

Questman · Post by **Questman** » Wed Aug 01, 2012 7:07 pm

MailLink was MajorNet. It's no different, really, than Worldlink so it's been superseded at this point.

DBSMail was a great module that tossed Fido networks while the BBS was up but the author looked for it and alas it was lost.

Vector · Post by **Vector** » Wed Aug 01, 2012 7:13 pm

I've got every DOVE-Net forum working on my board except the one with the "/" in it which DNews will not allow me to add and the Synchronet BBS specific ones (I just didn't subscribe to them.) Seems to work well, but without any interest in the product it's going to be a $95 expense for a single user DNews license.

Would be nice to get FidoNET back on to Major somehow, but unless there's a way to toss it via NNTP, I'm at a loss. We had MajorFIDO, but that was DOS only and I've loooong since lost the disks/reg code, found the invoice though... haha!

Questman · Post by **Questman** » Thu Aug 02, 2012 12:03 am

Joe (CCS) had it working via NNTP but he hasn't been on the boards in a while.

Toyduck · Post by **Toyduck** » Thu Aug 02, 2012 1:05 am

Questman wrote:Joe (CCS) had it working via NNTP but he hasn't been on the boards in a while.

I tried getting on his board, but none of the links I had resolve anymore.

Vector · Post by **Vector** » Thu Aug 02, 2012 2:41 am

I'm using DNews, which is what Joe was using. That's how I found DNews from some of his old posts. Rob @ Synchro's NNTP server has some FidoNet echos, but I'm not sure if you can post to them because I think FidoNET still requires a Fido address to route. Posting via NNTP is just an e-mail address, not a User@#:###/## format.

Dave

Questman wrote:Joe (CCS) had it working via NNTP but he hasn't been on the boards in a while.

Xray2000 · Post by **Xray2000** » Thu Aug 02, 2012 2:10 pm

Hi Vector,

Where i can found or download DNews ? I like also to try to get fidonet on WG without and server i have found a free NMPT Server around i can download it without any problem on Outlook express but i like to have just one software that can put al the message in WG and not to have more software running....

Thanks!

Rudi

Vector wrote:I'm using DNews, which is what Joe was using. That's how I found DNews from some of his old posts. Rob @ Synchro's NNTP server has some FidoNet echos, but I'm not sure if you can post to them because I think FidoNET still requires a Fido address to route. Posting via NNTP is just an e-mail address, not a User@#:###/## format.

Dave

Questman wrote:Joe (CCS) had it working via NNTP but he hasn't been on the boards in a while.

Vector · Post by **Vector** » Thu Aug 02, 2012 2:41 pm

DNews is still available for download from the original creator.

http://netwinsite.com/dnews.htm

I believe it runs 30 days without purchasing.

Xray2000 · Post by **Xray2000** » Thu Aug 02, 2012 3:28 pm

Hi Vecor,

Thanks, ok i see it is verry expansif ....

Vector wrote:DNews is still available for download from the original creator.

http://netwinsite.com/dnews.htm

I believe it runs 30 days without purchasing.

Vector · Post by **Vector** » Thu Aug 02, 2012 3:31 pm

While not supported DNews still actively sold and copyrighted software.

Xray2000 wrote:Hi Vecor,

Thanks, ok i see it is verry expansif, but i have a solution *

*
Vector wrote:DNews is still available for download from the original creator.

http://netwinsite.com/dnews.htm

I believe it runs 30 days without purchasing.

Xray2000 · Post by **Xray2000** » Thu Aug 02, 2012 3:49 pm

Vector can you explane me how you have setup DNews with WG please this is for me the first time and i realy dont know where to start ... and how i can get this in WG.

Thanks!

Vector wrote:While not supported DNews still actively sold and copyrighted software.

Xray2000 wrote:Hi Vecor,

Thanks, ok i see it is verry expansif, but i have a solution *

*
Vector wrote:DNews is still available for download from the original creator.

http://netwinsite.com/dnews.htm

I believe it runs 30 days without purchasing.

Vector · Post by **Vector** » Thu Aug 02, 2012 3:51 pm

I will be compiling some information on how to set up DNews and I will post it, but it will take me a while to get it together. I have to dig through pages of notes to recall exactly how it was all done so I can accurately communicate it to everyone here. I will release a HOWTO soon, but it's going to take some time.

Vector

Xray2000 wrote:Yes i know but here in Belgium it is verry hard to get a visa card or other card for buying stuff or registerting software, so i dont have that option and i found already something that works for the trial , so that's fix...

Vector can you explane me how you have setup DNews with WG please this is for me the first time and i realy dont know where to start ... and how i can get this in WG.

Thanks!

Xray2000 · Post by **Xray2000** » Thu Aug 02, 2012 4:02 pm

Hi Vector,

Oke thanks!!!!

That's realy nice and yes Dnews works perfect....

Thanks again !

Vector wrote:I will be compiling some information on how to set up DNews and I will post it, but it will take me a while to get it together. I have to dig through pages of notes to recall exactly how it was all done so I can accurately communicate it to everyone here. I will release a HOWTO soon, but it's going to take some time.

Dave

Xray2000 wrote:Yes i know but here in Belgium it is verry hard to get a visa card or other card for buying stuff or registerting software, so i dont have that option and i found already something that works for the trial , so that's fix...

Vector can you explane me how you have setup DNews with WG please this is for me the first time and i realy dont know where to start ... and how i can get this in WG.

Thanks!

dspain · Post by **dspain** » Thu Aug 02, 2012 4:11 pm

Vector wrote:I'm using DNews, which is what Joe was using. That's how I found DNews from some of his old posts. Rob @ Synchro's NNTP server has some FidoNet echos, but I'm not sure if you can post to them because I think FidoNET still requires a Fido address to route. Posting via NNTP is just an e-mail address, not a User@#:###/## format.

Dave

Questman wrote:Joe (CCS) had it working via NNTP but he hasn't been on the boards in a while.

join fidonet 229 and get a node id.

thats the net hub i use.

dspain · Post by **dspain** » Thu Aug 02, 2012 4:12 pm

Xray2000 wrote:Hi Vecor,

Thanks, ok i see it is verry expansif, but i have a solution for keep running the trial version for ever !

There is a tool out and let thinks that you are running the software from the first install date, so you can keep it running without paying the trial version ....

Vector wrote:DNews is still available for download from the original creator.

http://netwinsite.com/dnews.htm

I believe it runs 30 days without purchasing.

yeah but keep in mind if it is currently supported/sold breaking the protection isnt exactly fair to the author.

Vector · Post by **Vector** » Thu Aug 02, 2012 4:17 pm

I was kind of hoping to get my old node ID back as I see it's available, but unsure of feasibility. We were 1:396/31.

dspain wrote:
join fidonet 229 and get a node id.

thats the net hub i use.

Vector · Post by **Vector** » Thu Aug 02, 2012 4:19 pm

This is exactly what I mean. I do not condone software piracy. I've commented out the reference that Xray2000 made in all my posts, and suggest that he and others do the same. This forum isn't the place for piracy/theft/copyright infringement. We're already in a constant battle with the history of BBS software as it is.

dspain wrote:
Xray2000 wrote:Hi Vecor,

Thanks, ok i see it is verry expansif, but i have a solution *

*

Vector wrote:DNews is still available for download from the original creator.

http://netwinsite.com/dnews.htm

I believe it runs 30 days without purchasing.
yeah but keep in mind if it is currently supported/sold breaking the protection isnt exactly fair to the author.

Xray2000 · Post by **Xray2000** » Thu Aug 02, 2012 4:28 pm

Thanks, ok i see it is verry expansif, but i have a solution *

*

[quote="Vector"]DNews is still available for download from the original creator.

http://netwinsite.com/dnews.htm

Vector · Post by **Vector** » Thu Aug 02, 2012 4:37 pm

In America they give credit cards out like candy, which I'll openly admit that it's a major problem. Despite that it's more difficult to do so in your country, extending software beyond its trial period without paying for it is a violation of the software license agreement and is, therefore, illegal. I understand that various situations make some people feel their actions are justified, but facts are facts.

I'm not a moderator of this forum, but I will offer no further discussion on this matter and ask that references to it be edited out previous posts. The topic of this post is the implementation of DOVE-Net on Worldgroup by using an available product within it's license agreement (whether commercial, freeware, open source, etc...) to accomplish the task.

Vector

Xray2000 wrote:Victor dspain,

*

johnmanyjars · Post by **johnmanyjars** » Fri Aug 03, 2012 8:42 am

Hi Guys,

I am starting to work on a gateway between the two, but it sounds like you've got it working.

If you guys can provide me with instructions, I'll see if I can set it up using a linux (and therefore free) NNTP server.

Vector · Post by **Vector** » Fri Aug 03, 2012 11:57 am

I'll be posting instructions in the next week or so to use DNews. I am also working on using a Linux based NNTP server, however I am still going to search for a "single box" solution. Something that runs in XP.

Alternatively I may end up with a virtual machine, with the BBS on one, and a Linux NNTP on the other.

Stay tuned for DNews instructions soonish. Just depends on how busy work is.

Vector

johnmanyjars wrote:Hi Guys,

I am starting to work on a gateway between the two, but it sounds like you've got it working.

If you guys can provide me with instructions, I'll see if I can set it up using a linux (and therefore free) NNTP server.

johnmanyjars · Post by **johnmanyjars** » Sat Aug 04, 2012 5:28 pm

Vector wrote:I'll be posting instructions in the next week or so to use DNews. I am also working on using a Linux based NNTP server, however I am still going to search for a "single box" solution. Something that runs in XP.

Alternatively I may end up with a virtual machine, with the BBS on one, and a Linux NNTP on the other.

Stay tuned for DNews instructions soonish. Just depends on how busy work is.

Vector

Sounds good. What about installing cgywin http://www.cygwin.com/ and running the (linux) nntp server on that?

Franchise_24 · Post by **Franchise_24** » Wed Aug 08, 2012 2:02 pm

Any updates on the step by step tutorial to setup DNews?

Vector · Post by **Vector** » Wed Aug 08, 2012 8:14 pm

I've started it, but haven't finished it. Work has me busier than a cat trying to bury a turd on a marble floor. I'll have it up as soon as I can. Sorry for the wait.

Vector

Franchise_24 wrote:Any updates on the step by step tutorial to setup
DNews?

dspain · Post by **dspain** » Wed Aug 08, 2012 9:00 pm

Vector wrote:I've started it, but haven't finished it. Work has me busier than a cat trying to bury a turd on a marble floor. I'll have it up as soon as I can. Sorry for the wait.

Vector

Franchise_24 wrote:Any updates on the step by step tutorial to setup
DNews?

interesting metaphor.

Vector · Post by **Vector** » Wed Aug 22, 2012 4:17 pm

I haven't forgotten about posting instructions on how to do this, real life has just been busier than usual. Below I'm going to start posting some of the "brain droppings" to get this going so I can assemble it into a full HOWTO before it's all over. This post is going to be very long, for that I apologize, but it's necessary to see all the config files for this.

---- This HOWTO assumes you're running DNews on the SAME computer as your BBS! It also assumes you will want to use ALL of the accessible DOVE-Net forums ----

0. READ THIS ENTIRELY BEFORE PROCEEDING!

1. Get DNews from http://netwinsite.com/dnews.htm

2. I assigned a second internal IP to my network card to use for DNews, you don't necessairly have to do this as it can probably bind to 127.0.0.1 and your board can bind to 192.168.x.x or whatever. However I did have some troubles in my testing where something would bind to 127.0.0.1 and DNews couldnt, so YMMV. For the purpose of this info 192.168.1.1 will be consider the BBS IP, and 192.168.1.119 will be consider the DNews IP.

3. To assign a second IP to your BBS NIC, just go to the TCP/IP properties of the NIC and click advanced. At the top click ADD and add another IP to the NIC, in this case we're using 192.168.1.119. I chose 119 because 119 is the NNTP port and it makes it easy to remember.

4. Get a Vert DOVE-Net/Synchro account, instructions are here http://wiki.synchro.net/howto:dove-net ... you only need to do Step 2.

5. Configure WorldGroup to receive the NNTP Groups. There are a couple steps to this. If your BBS is Internet mail enabled that's a big plus, but it's not necessary. You do however, have to enable NNTP services. I don't think I did anything to the CNF -> General -> NNTP News Sender settings at all. I did make a few changes to CNF -> General -> NNTP News Receiver though. They are as follows:

NNTDONL -> Yes
NNTDPRT -> 119
NNTDACP -> Yes
AUDNNTD -> No
AUDNNTDE -> Yes
USEXRF -> Yes

In my case, and in this example, DNews is not accessible from the outside world, so I have NNTIP1 set to *. If for some reason you have it accessible from the outside world I would restrict this to the bound IP of DNews.

You also need to set the "tearline" or "tag line" of your BBS that will be appended to all outgoing messages. These DOVE-Net "standard" seems to be in this format, "+ (system type) + BBS Name + telnet://address.to.bbs.com" so in this example, I have mine set to "- Worldgroup 3.3 - StarBase 21 BBS - telnet://bbs.starbase21.net". You can find this under Text Blocks -> NNTP News Sender -> NNTTAG.

The next thing you need to do is setup the forums on your BBS. Just login and go through the same process as adding a Worldlink forum except when it comes to adding an ECHO, use the DOVE-Net NNTP address instead of the WL one. Examples are below. Also, I set access privledges to NORMAL, Read, Write, Read. This disabled file attachments and disallows non-privileged users from posting. Just make sure your non-demo users have the NORMAL key. I removed all charges and set message lifetime to 365 days. Another tip is to prefix all the DOVE-Net forum names with something like (DOVE-Net) so they are grouped together and users know they are echos.

DOVE-Net Echo List

Code: Select all

US&#58;DOVE-Net.General
US&#58;DOVE-Net.Advertisements
US&#58;DOVE-Net.Entertainment
US&#58;DOVE-Net.Debate
US&#58;DOVE-Net.Programming
US&#58;DOVE-Net.Unix
US&#58;DOVE-Net.HAM_Radio
US&#58;DOVE-Net.Internet
US&#58;DOVE-Net.Pro-Audio
US&#58;DOVE-Net.Firearms
US&#58;DOVE-Net.Sports
US&#58;DOVE-Net.Religion
US&#58;DOVE-Net.Hobbies

!!! Sysops ONLY and Test Posts! !!!
US&#58;DOVE-Net.US&#58;DOVE-Net_Sysops

!!! Synchronet Specific Echos -- I do not sub to these !!! 
US&#58;DOVE-Net.Synchronet_Announcements
US&#58;DOVE-Net.Synchronet_Discussion
US&#58;DOVE-Net.Synchronet_Baja
US&#58;DOVE-Net.Synchronet_JavaScript
US&#58;DOVE-Net.Synchronet_Programming
US&#58;DOVE-Net.Synchronet_Data

There is an echo missing from here, about Hardware/Software discussion. DNews will not connect to it due to the / in the name. No way around this!

5. Install DNews -- now I can't remember the exact installation procedure, but essentially you want to pick the one that says you want to suck news from another stream. The next time someone goes through his we'll get better documentation.

6. Configure DNews -- the easiest way to configure DNews is to go to the configure menu then the Raw Config Files. That will allow you to copy and paste from here to your config. Be sure to read my pastings carefully as there are options you have to change for your setup.

dnews.conf

Code: Select all

# myname must translate to this hosts ip address
# myname should be the windows computer name for this system
myname BBSCOMPUTERNAME
# change this to the IP you added to your NIC for DNews
bind_in 192.168.1.119
# bind_out 127.0.0.1
# path_stamp goes into the Path&#58; header to stop loops etc
# I left path_stamp alone, DNews automatically set this. 
path_stamp BBSCOMPUTERNAME.
# Sucking settings
# be sure to put your Vert Synchro username and password in place of the &#91;&#93; below!
# do not leave the brackets &#40;&#91;&#93;&#41; in place!
nntp_feeder vert.synchro.net DOVE-Net.* &#91;your vert username&#93; &#91;your vert password&#93;
cachedall true
suck_stream true
suck_maxold 25
suck_batchn 100
# routing settings
post_route true
# Manager
# This should be a valid e-mail address for your Sysop
manager sysop@bbs.yourbbsname.net
# Send confirmation emails to people who match this address
# Set the below to *@hostname.yourbbsdomain.net so users get e-mails when they post confirming it worked
confirm *@bbs.yourbbsname.net
# Directories
# These should be automatically configure by the DNews install.
config C&#58;\dnews
logdir C&#58;\dnews
workarea C&#58;\dnews\work
history C&#58;\dnews\hist
xover_dir C&#58;\dnews\xover
# Main spool area
spool C&#58;\dnews\spool
diskspace 5172

# --------------OPTIONAL THINGS TO CHANGE BELOW HERE -----------------------
# Send daily reports, default is 'yes'
# I changed this to no because I didn't want a daily e-mail of activity, you can switch to yes if you want!
report no

# Logging and debug settings, error,warn,info,debug
# debug item&#58;group&#58;feed&#58;chan&#58;  Selective debugging output Default is all
loglvl info

# Number of days to keep fetching each news group after it's last read
life 365

# expire_at mins hours 
# this example would only do updates at night
# update_at *5 17-7
# Update twice an hour and do one expire at 2 in the morning
update_at *5 *  Every 10 minutes
expire_at 5 5

# If less than 'n' megabytes are free on any partition/volume/disk then
# news will stop  sucking and accepting feeds, posts still work.
workarea_min 5
history_min 20
spool_min 10

# Do forward dns lookups on IHAVE entries in access.conf
# and find all the numbers related to the name.
access_forward true

# Do forward dns lookups on names returned from reverse
# dns lookups, if the number doesn't match the original number
# then don't use the name for access.conf checking. This 
# prevents dns spoofing &#40;which is very very rare but possible&#41;.
dns_check true

# Refuse news articles with a 'date' more than this old, this is just to avoid
# accepting news from a restored news disk.
too_old 14

expire.conf

Code: Select all

# Piles should never be swapped around.
# Expiration depends on the pile settings when the item arrives.  
# I don't know if any of this changed, it was automatic by DNews

remember 3
pile 1 groups * use 100%

access.conf
Leave this one alone, we will configure via the GUI

moderators.conf
Leave this one alone, it's populated by DNews for Usenet moderators from long ago and it's unused in our application

control.conf
Leave this one along too, it's another legacy file that's unused in our application.

filter.dat
Skip this as well, it will auto populate if you add filters, it'd be unlikely that we'd use it in this event.

users.dat
Do not edit this raw, we will add a user for administrative purposes via the GUI later

newsfeeds.conf
It is imperative this part is done exactly. The "site me" must ALWAYS be first in the list. Do not move it. Change 192.168.1.1 to the internal IP that your BBS's telnet port is bound too (i.e. the one that it's NNTP server answers on.) Change bbs.yourdomainname.net to the FQDN your BBS advertises itself as. So if you're bbs.mybbs.net or mybbs.net, be sure that's exact.

Code: Select all

site me
	groups DOVE-Net.*  
site vert.synchro.net
	groups DOVE-Net.*
	exclude vert.synchro.net
	type posting
site 192.168.1.1
	type builtin
	groups DOVE-Net.*
	exclude bbs.yourdomainname.net
site bbs.yourdomainname.net
	smtp

That should be it for config files in DNews.

7. Add Sysop user in DNews -- This is strictly for things like web manager access, or direct access to it as an NNTP server to clean up messages that you may have accidentally imported with testing and what not. I just named it Sysop. Click the Configure menu in DNews and choose Users. Just fill out the form, make sure Web Manager Access is Full, and save it. You likely won't need this account for anything, but it's good to have just in case.

8. If all goes well, this will be near the last step. Choose the "Tellnews" menu in DNews admin, then click "Reload". This will refresh your config with all the new info. Then choose the Tellnews menu again, click Enter Command, type "getgroups" and hit enter. This should start downloading groups and funneling them into your BBS.

CAUTION: I fully expect this to not be 100% complete and inclusive of every setup and every issue that can be accounted for. I tried to take the best notes I could to assemble this, but somethings get lost in the mix when it's 3-4am and I was trying to just make it work. I take no responsibility of what this could do to your BBS so always take good backups and such. As far as I can tell is worst case you can populate a message base with entirely too many messages. The only issue I can think of is it may not bring in the groups due to caching rules. Learn more about the cache command here http://netwinsite.com/dnews/tellnews.htm#1 to jump start that. You can get ALL the Telllnews commands at that site. The full DNews manual is here: http://netwinsite.com/dnews/manual.htm

Another Note: The messages will be dated whatever day WorldGroup imports them, even if they are a year old. So be careful when responding to messages. This setup should only import the last 25 messages from each echo. You can see the real dates of message by connecting to your DNews directly with Outlook Express and seeing the dates there.

Finally, Good Luck!, This was quite an adventure for me.

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