I moved Agency to Linux and can't seem to get some things working. Wondering if I have missed something?

FLAG1x

I have a user account with Flag 1A set. There's a file called FLAG1A.ANS that displays on the old A46 win32 instance of the BBS when the user logs in.

But on the new Linux box (running the version in my tear line below) the only thing I have changed is the display file to lowercase (as per wiki notes) so it's now called flag1a.ans but the file no longer displays when the user logs on. Did I miss something?

ANSICHAT.XXX

I miss the options that display on a terminal window when a user if active in Windows. It seems Nodespy is my only option for some things I used to be able to do with the Windows terminal.

Using the Window terminal in the A46 win32 version I could call Alt-S to engage a split screen chat and a lower case ansichat.ANS would display.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but there's no equivalent option in Linux.. and I need to use Nodespy - sound right? :)

In the Linux version I made the file name ansichat.ans and then went looking as to how to call it.

When running Nodespy I can run snoop and there after can use alt-c to chat... but if I want to use the split-screen chat I need to go to the 'user chat' option in Nodespy.

The problem is it calls the stock split-screen chat ansi background and seems to ignore the ansichat.ans I have. Any ideas why? I probably missed something.

I also wondered if in 'snoop' you could add the split-screen chat option in so alt-s as well as having alt-c option?

In the windows terminal there were options to edit the user while online, increase and decrease avail time, toggle the status bar displaying user info on and off, and toggle the info being displayed on the status bar. Do you think you could add the same code to the nodespy module too? I kinda think it would be helpful stuff for a Linux sysop and it's something I've missed since moving to Linux from Windows.

I'd better stop there :)

Thanks for any info / thoughts.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/09/29 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Agency BBS | Dunedin, New Zealand | agency.bbs.nz (3:770/100)

But on the new Linux box (running the version in my tear line below) the only thing I have changed is the display file to lowercase (as per wiki notes) so it's now called flag1a.ans but the file no longer displays
when the user logs on. Did I miss something?

This is a little confusing because Mystic actually looks for "flag1X" where X is the uppercased flag (since all flags are displayed as upper cased in Mystic). So it would actually be "flag1A.ans" in Unix-based versions.

This isn't consistant with other things though, so I think in the next A47 build I am going to change it so that its "flag1a.ans" all lower-cased unless you and/or other think that I shouldn't.

Using the Window terminal in the A46 win32 version I could call Alt-S to engage a split screen chat and a lower case ansichat.ANS would display.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but there's no equivalent option in Linux.. and
I need to use Nodespy - sound right? :)

Things are certainly different as you noted.

Mystic in Windows is meant to mimic DOS BBS software (if you have the node windows enabled) which seems to be what you are used to. If you are coming from DOS this is a very familiar thing as you get a Window for each node and you can watch them and interact with their session directly.

Linux is very different in how it works compared to DOS/Windows and so Mystic in Linux takes a more Unix-like approach where it can run as a daemon and spawn user sessions. These sessions are not really something you can directly interact with as you would in Windows. Mystic doesn't even assume you have access to a command shell on the server that runs Mystic.

As you probably know Mystic provides access to just about everything from within the BBS itself with Mystic-DOS and menu commands for all configuration, text/ANSI editors, stuff to snoop and chat with users, etc. These work in Windows but in Linux they are mostly how you would maintain and interact with users on your BBS.

To do something like ALT+S Linux you would use the NP menu command. If you have SysOp ACS it will allow you to force a user into a split screen private chat. If you are not a SysOp you can page a user and they can decide if they want to chat with you. The template for this is userchat.

There is no ALT+E you simply cannot pop open a user editor with the currently logged in user. This is one area that should be improved upon though. It won't be exactly the same but I might be able to get it close with a SysOp menu command where you can select which online user that you'd like to edit, and then it will try to establish an editing session while the user waits.

As you mentioned there is also NodeSpy if you want to run something that is entirely outside of the BBS. This really needs a lot more work but its not as big of a priority for me right now as adding the online user editor would be...
Its never going to work exactly like the Windows version but we can get it a little closer than it is today!

... My software never has bugs. It just develops random features...

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/10/22 (Windows/32)
* Origin: Sector 7 * Mystic WHQ (1:129/215)

On 24 Oct 2021 at 08:28p, g00r00 pondered and said...

This is a little confusing because Mystic actually looks for "flag1X" where X is the uppercased flag (since all flags are displayed as upper cased in Mystic). So it would actually be "flag1A.ans" in Unix-based versions.

Ah that explains it, thanks.

This isn't consistant with other things though, so I think in the next
A47 build I am going to change it so that its "flag1a.ans" all
lower-cased unless you and/or other think that I shouldn't.

Yes I'd go for all lower case or allow for either flag1A.ans or flag1a.ans

Does file extn case sensitivity also apply? e.g. file.ans vs file.ANS or does Mystic not mind?

To do something like ALT+S Linux you would use the NP menu command. If
you have SysOp ACS it will allow you to force a user into a split screen private chat. If you are not a SysOp you can page a user and they can decide if they want to chat with you. The template for this is userchat.

OK understand thanks, I can see how that works from a within a logged in to the BBS scenario.

As you mentioned there is also NodeSpy if you want to run something that is entirely outside of the BBS. This really needs a lot more work but
its not as big of a priority for me right now as adding the online user editor would be...

Adding Alt-S aka NP menu command to the snoop task bar would be nice as/when you have time.

Its never going to work exactly like the Windows version but we can get
it a little closer than it is today!

Thanks for the reply and info :)

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/09/29 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Agency BBS | Dunedin, New Zealand | agency.bbs.nz (3:770/100)