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FBB (Packet BBS)

FBB is a Packet Radio[1] BBS. This page has a bit of information about it.

1: /packet-radio/

FBB Administrators / Sysops

For people that maintain FBB.

Documentation

The main place for documentation is the file formats[2] page under the documentation section of f6fbb.org[3]. What they call `init.srv` is called `/etc/ax25/fbb.conf` on my system and has a more friendly but different format. Everything else is pretty much as documented.

2: http://www.f6fbb.org/fbbdoc/docform.htm

3: http://www.f6fbb.org/fbbdoc/doc.htm

Initial Tips

The first time you run fbb, it creates the config files. This is rather different than regular Unix tradition and came as a surprise to me.

You can log into it locally with `/usr/sbin/xfbbC -r -c -i YOURCALL` though this logs you in with sysop privileges.

New Features

Many new features in FBB aren't mentioned in the regular documentation. These include SMTP, NNTP, and POP interfaces, plus JNOS-style @areas in themes.sys. And "new" here means, roughly, "new since 1999". Some of them are documented fairly well in the `CHANGES` file.

POP, NNTP, and SMTP

FBB's POP server provides a nice way for people to read P messages directed to them.

FBB's NNTP server provides a nice way for people to read bulletins and post. Each `themes.sys` theme is presented as a newsgroup.

SMTP provides a way for people to send P messages.

None of its gateways provide a way to transmit or read traffic.

Here are some tips:

Set your From line to `CALL@BBS.HIER` (that is, your full hierarchical address)

The Newsgroups line for bulletins posted should be set to CALL@DEST -- for instance, LINUX@WW. Note that this will be different than the Newsgroups line for incoming bulletins, which will be set according to THEMES.SYS.

The NNTP server is buggy. See the tips at Modern Clients With FBB

POP requires authentication; set a password with EU. You may also have to set flags like modem -- not sure on that. NNTP requires authentication to post. SMTP does not support authentication at all.

Homepage and Releases

The FBB homepage is http://www.f6fbb.org/[4]. Old releases and some documentation is available there. However, newer versions are not appearing there. The newest version as of Dec 2010 is 7.04r13, which is available at http://f6bvp.free.fr/logiciels/BBS-f6fbb/xd704r13-src.tar.bz2[5]. Other releases can probably be expected to appear at http://f6bvp.free.fr/logiciels/BBS-f6fbb[6].

4: http://www.f6fbb.org/

5: http://f6bvp.free.fr/logiciels/BBS-f6fbb/xd704r13-src.tar.bz2

6: http://f6bvp.free.fr/logiciels/BBS-f6fbb

Held Bulletins and First Line Issues

The default `reject.sys` will hold pretty much all bulletins. Sometimes this also causes bulletins to get a corrupted first line. I suggest starting with an empty `reject.sys`.

Misc notes

These should be organized better.

From f6bvp, 12/19/2010:

  Hi All,

  As always it is strongly recommended to read README file to get elementary instructions on how to compile and install any software.

  For more practical details, you may have a look at FPAC MINI HOWTO
  chapter dedicated to installing FBB (with or without the unvaluable
  level 3 ROSE network packet switch router FPAC, written by F6FBB).

  http://rose.fpac.free.fr/MINI-HOWTO/#s102

  Then, for configuring FBB, sysops may read Charley's K4GBB text
  http://rose.fpac.free.fr/MINI-HOWTO/BBS-keywords.txt

  Complete FBB software documentation may be browsed here
  http://f6bvp.free.fr/logiciels/BBS-f6fbb/html/

  and you can download the following files :

  http://f6bvp.free.fr/logiciels/BBS-f6fbb/FBB7UT_G.DOC

  http://f6bvp.free.fr/logiciels/BBS-f6fbb/fbb7ut_g.zip

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