From: gtaylor@tnetconsulting.net   
      
   On 4/17/24 17:18, Marc Lewis wrote:   
   > Greetings, Grant.   
      
   Hi Marc,   
      
   > When someone logs into the system via Telnet (or my local node) it's   
   > assigned to a specific sub-directory in the \MAX directory relative   
   > to the order the call was received in.  E.g., if I log into the system   
   > locally (not telnet) it's automagically Node 0 and my user info appears   
   > in that subdirectory. The next person that logs in via telnet will end   
   > up in either \1, \4, or \5. \2 is dial-up. \3 is a special purpose one   
   > that is seldom used, though if I had another available node in VModem,   
   > it would be used for that, but the license is for 3 nodes. Of course   
   > VModem isn't utilised for dial-up.   
      
   Okay.  Thank you.  I think I get that it's literally a directory named   
   "0", "1", "2", "3", "4", or "5" and that it's sort of (roughly) akin to   
   phone line number (for an analogy) and not specific to a user.   
      
   > It's all part of the Maximus program, where it can "see" the other   
   > users and whether or not they are available for chat (not in an   
   > external program like a game or editing a message.)  On the Main   
   > Menu there is a Who command that shows (W)ho is on [one presses 'W'   
   > to get to that.] And yes, inter-node chat is in real-time. I am sure   
   > that other BBS systems can do something similar.   
      
   ACK   
      
   > I've not given too much thought to precisely how the system does   
   > real-time, but with a system like OS/2 (and probably certain versions   
   > of Windows that are genuine multi-tasking/multi-threaded it would   
   > be possible.)   
      
   :-)   
      
   > On Maximus, everything is internal to the BBS program. It know   
   > precisely what is available to whatever. There probably *are* some   
   > internal intra-node "protocols", but, not being a programmer, I don't   
   > actually know how it is accomplished... It just works.    
      
   ACK   
      
   > Hopefully that sheds a tiny bit more light on my somewhat antiquated   
   > but still operating BBS system.   
      
   Yes, it does.  Thank you.   
      
   Being an OS / systems person I find early multi-user / multi-system   
   communications systems like BBSs interesting and I enjoy learning about   
   them and how they worked.   
      
   Thank you for indulging my curiosity Marc.  :-)   
      
      
      
   --   
   Grant. . . .   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)