Mustang Software beefs up its Wildcat BBS with a 32-fold increase in conference capacity, a programming language, and a robust suite of administration utilities
Bill Esposito
Along with the growing popularity of on-line services comes increased interest in low-cost alternatives. BBSs are perhaps the most affordable way to get customers and in-house people exchanging files and messages. Put the BBS host computer on a LAN, and you've got an instant groupware conferencing system.
Since at least the late 1980s, Mustang Software's Wildcat has been on the short list of the most popular BBS programs. Version 4 is a major rewrite designed to meet the need for increased capacity and more powerful system administration. The basic Wildcat program now has more flexible menuing, a spelling chec
ker, faster search and retrieval capabilities, and GIF Thumbnailer which lets you view miniatures of large, throughput-sapping graphics files before downloading them.
In addition, Mustang Software is now offering a separately priced BBS Suite that adds a slew of configuration and programming utilities.
Installation Made Easy
I took a look at the BBS Suite, which includes Wildcat 4. I installed the software on my pieced-together 486DLC40 with 16 MB of RAM, a U.S. Robotics Courier Dual Standard V.34 modem, a 14.4 Kbps Bocamodem, and OS/2 2.1.
Installation is relatively painless. Naturally, you first have to back up the entire system as a safety precaution. Once you've done that, be prepared for at least a few hours of upgrading, and possibly an overnight job if your system is large. Wildcat will convert most everything for you, but you will have to move a few things over to the new version, such as bulletin and menu files. Because the new message databases differ fro
m those in previous versions of Wildcat, any program or utility that accessed them will no longer work and must also be upgraded.
Wildcat's Makewild, a menu-driven installation utility, made installation a snap. I did, however, run across a problem with the installation documentation. For setting up the modem options, the documentation says to select ``Type of Modem'' and press F2 to bring up a pick list of supported modems. Unfortunately, ``Type of Modem'' was not an option in the actual program, F2 wasn't highlighted as available, and pressing F2 did nothing. I noticed that pressing F3 would load something, so I tried it. Sure enough, a pick list of modems appeared. I selected the file for my U.S. Robotics modem, and the rest of the basic installation went without incident.
Makewild also made custom configuration painless. The BBSs I've used require you to edit long, complicated configuration files. For example, Scott Dudley's Maximus/2-CBCS, which I run on my own BBS, is highly configurable,
but you must do all the configuring in a text editor. By comparison, in Wildcat 4, everything is configured in Makewild, which makes liberal use of drop-down menus and has context-sensitive help. BBS software hasn't made the transition from DOS to the drag-and-drop Windows world, and much of it still suffers the shortcomings of older terminal-based interfaces.
One of Wildcat 4's notable features is RIP (Remote Imaging Protocol) Graphics, which provides a fully graphical (though still DOS-based), mouse-driven interface for the BBS. To take advantage of RIP, the caller must be using a RIP-capable terminal program. Mustang Software does not supply a RIPscript editor to create the graphic screens, but you can download one from the company's BBS (805-873-2400) or any BBS with a good selection of shareware. With RIP, your BBS can look as professional as Prodigy or America Online.
Multi-Everything
Wildcat is a network compatible, multiuser BBS program. It comes in single-line, 10
-line, 250-line, and Multiline Platinum (that supports up to 250 phone lines but permits as many as eight lines per PC) versions that retail for $129, $250, $499, and $799, respectively. The BBS Suite that I reviewed lists for $999 and includes the Multiline Platinum Wildcat and three support utilities: the wcCODE Custom Online Development Engine; the wcGATE Internet/MHS mail gateway; and the wcPRO Utilities, a collection of user and database utilities that includes a fax-on-demand processor.
If you plan on having two or more lines, you will need to run some sort of multitasking system. One popular method is to run Quarterdeck Office Systems' DESQ-view, which lets you get by with only 4 MB of RAM for a two-line system. OS/2 is an option that is more attractive than before, with the release of OS/2 Warp, which also runs in 4 MB. Windows is also an option, but it suffers from notoriously unreliable high-speed communications performance while multitasking.
The last recommended option is to run Wild
cat on a LAN. This is attractive because it gives off-site personnel dial-in access to the LAN, as well as providing an alternative to more expensive groupware programs. Unfortunately, if you own an intelligent multiport I/O card or need to use a FOSSIL (Fido, Opus, Seadog Interface Layer), you'll have to spring for the $799 Platinum version of Wildcat.
Then, once you've decided on your environment, there are some configuration items to take care of. Regardless of whether you run Wildcat in a virtual machine operating in a memory partition on a standalone PC or on a PC connected to a LAN, each line must be separate. These lines communicate with each other through shared data files, which means there's a single, easier-to-maintain common database for user information, files, and messages.
If you run DESQview or a LAN, you need to load DOS SHARE from either your CONFIG.SYS or AUTOEXEC.BAT files. Wildcat itself will keep things straight by using a different node number for each line. You assign thi
s node number in Makewild's General Information section. Mustang suggests that you get one line working before tackling multiple lines. I agree.
Downloadables
The next task is one that often proves to be a major project: creating the file lists that users will see and from which they will select files to download. If your CD-ROM or hard disk directories already contain a file-description file (e.g., FILES.BBS), the process is almost automatic. You need only run Wildcat's files-database-creation utility, wcFILE; enter the directory names and the name of the description file; and choose Go. All file names and descriptions will be assimilated into the files database. If there is no description file, however, you must manually enter the file names and descriptions. Once you've created the file area, you can set the security aspects, such as who can upload, download, or list files (Wildcat internally supports eight downloading protocols, including ZMODEM and YMODEM/G, along with up to
10 external protocols).
One notable file-area feature is the way that Wildcat handles CD-ROMs. For practical use in a multiline configuration, only one line can access a single CD-ROM at a time, which creates a problem when two callers try simultaneously to download a file from the same CD-ROM. Wildcat will copy the requested file to a hard disk before the transfer executes, freeing the CD-ROM for access by other lines. Wildcat also supports multiple CD-ROMs and CD-ROM changers.
The Messaging System
Setting up the message areas, or conferences as they are called in Wildcat, was straightforward. You simply enter a conference name, edit a few options, and hook the name to a file area. Users access the file areas via a customizable screen (see ``
New User Menu Screen
'').
One drawback of the messaging system is its lack of direct support for FTSC (FidoNet Technical Standards Committee) mail transfers. You must purchase a separate front-end package (
such as BinkleyTerm, Front Door, or Intermail) from a third-party vendor to exchange mail via FidoNet, the mail standard for BBSs. Nor does Wildcat directly support dial-up data exchange between two Wildcat BBSs, for that matter. To do that, you must again resort to a third-party package or a kludge whereby Wildcat shells out to a terminal program, which in turn runs a script to log on to a BBS and download a QWK mail packet. Mustang should provide at least the ability for two Wildcat BBSs to communicate via the telephone lines.
On the plus side, the bundled wcGATE program provides a gateway between the BBS and the Internet for importing and exporting Internet E-mail and Usenet newsgroups. Wildcat also includes wcMAIL, a QWK mail door that lets users pack up selected mail for download. And, to keep messages relatively free of mistakes, the program comes with a spelling checker and 120,000-word dictionary.
BBS Security
Security in Wildcat is highly configurable, allowing up
to 1000 different security profiles. Because Wildcat does not use the typical system of access levels that range from low to high, profiles are independent of each other, so changes in one profile do not affect other profiles. (In a level-based security system, levels are related to each other by order of precedence. For example, when you disable an option for access on level 5, it is also disabled for levels 0-4.) With the profiles, whatever you enable or disable on one profile has no bearing on another. Each profile can control access to each conference, file area, or door, for the most flexible security system that I've ever seen. You can also limit most of the functions associated with both the file and conference areas.
The suite also includes wcCODE, a QuickBasic-like language. At the heart of wcCODE is the IDE (Integrated Development Environment), an editor and compiler that is intuitive and supports the WordStar command set. The programming language itself provides access to Wildcat's function
s as well as most of the standard QuickBasic commands. A business might use wcCODE to write a program that uses the output from an external credit-card verification utility to upgrade the user's security profile.
Also included in the suite is the wcPRO Utilities, a collection of programs that let sysops perform database operations on the user, file, and message databases. Included in wcPRO is wcFAX, an external fax-on-demand program that lets users view a list of documents, mark the ones they want, and then have them faxed to a number that they specify. wcFAX is completely configurable, and you can set it up to deduct fax charges from a user's account.
Fly Like the Wind
I set up a two-line BBS with a local-node connection for a total of three lines. Wildcat answered and connected with the caller's modems flawlessly. With all three nodes in operation and two simultaneous high-speed transfers, the resulting transfer speeds were in excess of 113-percent efficiency, which mean
s you can expect about 1620-plus characters per second from a 14.4-Kbps connection (the same percentage applies at other line speeds). That's about as good as you'll get in any environment. The menu displays were somewhat slow, but I attribute this to OS/2's handling of DOS multitasking. Wildcat's multiple chatting options--sysop chat as well as public and private multiline chat--all worked well and were not in any way hampered by the multitasking system.
The Wildcat BBS Suite is undeniably a powerful BBS package, and with a suggested retail price of $999, it ought to be. Its menu-driven installation process and robust configuration utilities allow for much easier setup than is available in BBSs that use control files. Still, given such a richness of features, Wildcat's lack of a RIP editor and FTSC support surprised me, even though Mustang Software says it gets few requests to add either feature from its predominantly corporate customers.
By the time you read this, registered users will be able
to download version 4.01, which Mustang Software says fixes almost 70 bugs while adding some new features. If you require a multiline BBS, and you don't need the FOSSIL or intelligent I/O board support, I suggest either the 10- or 250-line versions. With a BBS like Wildcat, you will never again need to use on-line services like CompuServe to communicate with your employees.
About the Product
Wildcat 4.0
single-line $129
10-line $249
250-line $499
Multiline Platinum $799
BBS Suite $999
Mustang Software
6200 Lake Ming Rd.
Bakersfield, CA 93306
(805) 873-2500
fax: (805) 873-2599
screen_link (26 Kbytes)
Callers with new-user security profiles and ANSI graphics enabled are greeted with the above menu. Users with different security profil
es would have different options enabled. The two lines at the bottom of the screen can only be seen on the system operator's local console.
On-Screen System Statistics
screen_link (37 Kbytes)
At a glance, the BBS system operator can review overall system statistics on the idle screen (the screen that is displayed locally while there are no callers on the BBS). This screen is nearly identical to the one in the previous version of Wildcat.
Bill Esposito is a program integrator with the Department of Defense. A BBS user since 1982, for seven years he has been system operator of the Cereal Port BBS in Rindge, NH (603-899-3335). He can also be reached on the Internet at
espo@cereal.mv.com
and on BIX c/o ``editors.''
On-Line Service on the Cheap
