

CHAMAS HELP FILE
 
0. Remark
 
1. Introduction
   1.1 General Explanations
   1.2 Level Structure
 
2. Menu system
   2.1 Root menu
   2.2 Submenu BBS
   2.3 Submenu PD
   2.4 Submenu Manager
   2.5 Submenu Subnet
 
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0. Remark
 
This help file has been translated into English by Thomas Zielke
(113355 AT DOLUNI1). The CHAMAS operators would like to announce that
everyone who would like to translate this help file into languages other
than German or English (how about French?) is heartily welcome to do so.
 
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1. Introduction
 
1.1 General explanations
 
Why an introduction?
Well, that's simple...I don't know where to start...
Ok...CHAMAS stands for Chaos Mailbox System. The word Chaos
has its roots in the period where CHAMAS was developed and programmed,
a time when we had chaos at its best.
 
CHAMAS is on-line since April 1988 and can be reached via EARN
under userid $ nodeid 107633 $ DOLUNI1.
 
This mailbox is menue-operated which means that there is one
root- and several submenues.
At some points of the structure there are sub-submenues to some
sub-menues, but generally our structure is not deeper than two levels.
 
CHAMAS is supporting the GEONET-standard, which has been developed
some years ago for the GEO1-mailbox. Up to now there are several
mailboxes supporting this standard and thereby simplifying the
use of them.
Because of CHAMAS' connection to EARN, we were unable to produce
a fully-compatible GEO-shell, which can easily be seen in the fact,
that contributing to a board does not happen through a kind of
editor-like menue but by sending a file to CHAMAS in BTSMP-format
(which is generally required from all gateways and servers on EARN).
 
1.2 Level structure
 
After subscribing to CHAMAS with the command NICK <nickname>
(a procedure that is only necessary when using CHAMAS for the
very first time), one is given the level-3-user privilege class.
On CHAMAS, we have five user-privilege levels:
 
          Level 1   - System operators
                      (at the moment: TERRA and WALDI)
 
          Level 2   - OBBS-board administrators
                      In some cases we give level-2-privileges
                      to other users, as long as they support
                      us by giving advice or supervising CHAMAS.
 
          Level 3   - Normal user.
 
          Level 4   - Banned user, someone who has tried to 'sabotage'
                      or misuse CHAMAS (for example, by steadily and
                      unnecessarily using the NEWS-gateway).
                      Remember also the RELAY conventions on the use of
                      bad language, offending other users etc.
 
          Level OUT - This level hinders level-3-users from accessing
                      CHAMAS, which may happen during maintenance-time.
                      In that case, users trying to access CHAMAS get
                      the message:
                       *Chamas shutdown in progress - Try again later
 
Users with levels 1 and 2 have a larger set of commands than level-3
users. These additional commands can be seen by sending the SYSCMD
command. Level 1 and 2 also include the permission of writing onto
the OBBS-boards which means that all OBBS-format-files sent to
CHAMAS will be processed and added to the board. Sending files without
having this special permission will result in re-sending the file
then named ERROR NOTE to the contributing userid.
 
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2. Menue system
 
2.1 Root menue
 
In the root menue, we are offering the following services:
 
       PBBS       - Public Bulletin Board System
       OBBS       - Official Bulletin Board System
       INFO       - Infos on CHAMAS and its site Oldenburg
                    You can also find special information, i.e.
                    on data networks, in this section.
       SUBNET     - Info/and Diskussion via UUCP by Netmbx Berlin
       GATES      - Gateway to CCC, MCS and CHAMAS-users
       PD         - Public Domain software bank
       MANAGER    - User Manager with system-functions
 
PBBS includes read/write-boards like CHAMAS or HACK.
 
OBBS includes read-only-boards like CCC or MCS. Only level-2-users
have permission to contribute to these boards, which, however, means
that they are responsible for 'their' board.
 
The PD-system can be used for exchanging public-domain-software
(which we understand to be software without copyright restrictions).
 
The Manager includes general functions like changing one's nickname,
asking for a list of users etc.
 
2.2 Sub menue - BBS
 
BBS includes the submenues PBBS and OBBS, which are working in a
similar way. Valid commands are:
 
LIST PBBS / LIST OBBS   - will list the said boards and tell
                          your the date when they were last changed.
 
INV <board>             - will list the contents of a board.
                          The list contains fileid, sending userid,
                          date and topic of all contributions to
                          the board. The fileid is necessary for all
                          requests to read or getting sent a message.
 
INFO OBBS               - gives you short information on OBBS.
 
RE <fileid>             - enables you to read a message.
                          This is especially useful for PBBS-files
                          as these are generally that short, that
                          a send request would be quite a waste of time.
                          However, if a file is larger than 50 lines,
                          the file will not be sent and the user will be
                          asked to submit a send request (cf. SE-command)
 
RE <id1> <id2> .. <idn> - Read more than one message
 
SE <fileid>             - will tell CHAMAS to send you a copy of
                          a message in NETDATA format. This command
                          is of great use in OBBS, as messages there
                          are normally larger than 50 lines.
 
SE <id1> <id2> .. <idn> - Send more than one message
 
DE <fileid>             - deletes a message. Note that you are
                          only authorized to delete your own messages.
 
WR <board> (PBBS only)  - will give you a short help about how to
                          contribute to a board via mail.
 
Writing to a board is accomplished only by sending a note or a file.
If you want to contribute to a PBBS-boards, you have to do it like this:
 
First you have to write a file with your site-specific editor.
The file header should look like this:
 
FROM:    <nickname> <userid&nodeid>
BOARD:   <boardname>
SUBJECT: <name of subject (no more than 25 characters|)>
DATE:    <date>
 
<text>
<blank line>
 
NOTE:
The headlines beginning with SUBJECT and BOARD must not be omitted,
and you have to provide a blank between SUBJECT: and the name of
the subject you want to contribute to.
 
The following forms are used in CHAMAS:
 
BOARD:   RPO        /* contribute to the RPO-board */
SUBJECT: <text>     /* where <text> can also be a general remark */
SUBJECT: RE: <text> /* answer or comment to a file
                       Make sure to specify the subject of the file
                       you want to comment or answer. */
SUBJECT: Q:<text>   /* question */
SUBJECT: A:<text>   /* answer to a question, where <text> should
                       be the same as in the 'question-file' header.*/
 
Examples:
 
SUBJECT: Virus in Arpanet       /* a simple header */
 
SUBJECT: RE: Virus in Arpanet   /* remarks or comment to a contribution*/
 
SUBJECT: Q: Where's Singapore?  /* Can anyone tell me where ... */
 
SUBJECT: A: Where's Singapore   /* I know where... */
 
WARNING: The filetype of your message must not be CCC or NEWS or MCS,
which would be mixed up by CHAMAS with the name of a gateway (see
also the section on gateways).
 
2.3 Submenue PD
 
I've no idea 'bout that... Waldi is working at it at the moment...
 
2.4 Submenue MANAGER
 
The MANAGER offers you the following commands:
 
      NICK         - changes your nickname
      CMD          - shows the rootmenue
      HELP         - returns the CHAMAS-logo, nickname and total
                     amount of commands you have sent to CHAMAS
                     up to now.
      WHOIS <nick> - tell you userid and nodeid of a CHAMAS-user
      WHOAT <node> - List of User at a Node
      CALL         - calls a system-operator (if anyone's there)
      NEWS <opt>   - informs you which new messages have been added
                     to the NEWS service
                     opt could be:
                          -l    - See a List of New Messages
                          -s    - Send new messages as File
                          -p    - Send a List of new PD-Software
                     optional:  n    - Don't erase the entry in the
                                       Userlist.
i.e.:  news -l , news -ln , news -p , news -sn  , a.s.o.
 
2.5. Subnet
 
No Help available - Type SUBNET


