History
ABBS (Amiga Bulletin Board System) was originally created by Geir Inge Høsteng in the early 1990s as an Amiga version of MBBS. Later, Jan Erik Olausen maintained it up to version 2.15. From 2018 onwards, Kåre Johansen continued development starting at version 2.16. Recently, Geir Inge Høsteng rejoined the team to restore original functionality and work on AI integration.
ABBS Changelog
ABBS v3.1
Added
- Enabled the Edit User button in ABBS Mainwindow (UserEditor tool).
- New REXX functions: SETNODECITY, SETNODESPEED, SETNODEUSER, GETNODECITY, GETNODESPEED, GETNODEUSER.
- Message Filter info in Utility/View Settings (U V):
- 0–9: show all info
- 10–19: hide info about messages being written
- 20–49: hide login/logout info
- 50: hide all info (including chat/node messages)
- Installer/Update script for ABBS v1.1→v2.x, v2→v3, or clean v3 install.
Fixed
- !FI command caused garbage if no file comments existed.
- About/Stats dialogues now open in separate process; prevents multiple instances.
Changed
- WHO and nodelist behavior: removed local nodes from public view.
- SysOp menu "M" command changed to ModifyFile (can edit file description, etc.).
- About dialogue redesigned for easier reading.
Tools
- UserEditor v1.0 added.
- ConfigBBS v2.1: fixed single-user limitation, removed debug info; new-look menus; version in About; toggle FileCache.
- SysopAvail v2.0: displays mode (Available/Unavailable) and version string.
- ABBS Utils: version numbers fixed for installer consistency.
ABBS v3.0
Added
- MainWindow functionality to About.
- Version, Date, Serial number in About dialog.
- ConfigBBS button on Main ABBS Window GUI.
Fixed
- ? in Bulletin menu caused crash.
- BulletinHelp not opening with ?.
- F8 (Hack Connect) restored in nodepublicmenu.
- User name change error corrected.
- Showuser window size increased to display all info.
Changed
- ABBS can start without config files; main window opens for setup.
- Main Window facelift, using system fonts; shortcut keys updated.
- Alerts added if confignode.run/configbbs.run missing.
Tools
- ConfigBBS v2.0 rewritten; allows single-user name change; uses system fonts.
- ConfigNode v2.43 fixes empty lines, removes SUPER_BITMAP, uses system fonts; known issue with new startup lines requires restart.
ABBS v2.21
Added
- REXX commands: REALBBSNAME, CLEARCALLERINFO.
- SYSOP command: BStats.
Fixed
- J and F L ? now display conference/file lists correctly.
- ANSI graphics display corrected.
- MORE works with lists.
Tools
- CreateConfig v1.1 rewritten in C; sets correct user password.
- ConfigBBS v1.04 adds REALBBSNAME gadget text, minor layout tweaks.
ABBS v2.20
Added
- New Config button launches ConfigNode for active node.
- Internal StatsFile logs (logins, uploads, downloads, messages, failed passwords, bad logouts, file time, used time, new users, failed uploads/downloads, grabs).
Fixed
- Stealth login password prompt color fixed.
- Double-click node bug fixed.
Changed
- Removed Norwegian character check on access search list (boosts speed).
Tools
- ConfigNode 2.3 updated: checks startup.config, supports node ID or full path.
ABBS v2.19
Changes
- F L ? and J behavior updated when filelist/conferencelist missing.
- Compiled without DEBUG; filesize reduced from 500 KB → 211 KB.
Fixed
- User listing speed improved; display formatting corrected for users not recently online.
ABBS v2.18+
Changes
- Caller info now only shows username (zip/city removed).
- Node menus, Boardstat, login modes restricted to local/public nodes appropriately.
Fixed
- AddFile date bug, ConfigNode bug, unread message display, missing message errors corrected.
Added
- ABBS v1.x → v2.x upgrade tools in Utils.
- AbbsUsers and ListFiles CLI tools.
- Saved dialogue in ConfigNode 2.23.
Public release serial number: #999.
ABBS v2.17 – v2.16
- v2.17: SN reverted.
- v2.16: Fixes in Q S command; ! s <username> PA works with Z bit; 20 users at a time listing; SN display replaced with "ABBS FOR ALL"; updated appicon.
Older ABBS versions (v2.01 → v2.08)
- v2.08: Fixed color bug after reading a message; create ABBS:Fileheaders directory for .fl files.
- v2.07: Reply number fixes; conference text setup for first-time users.
- v2.06: Counter for QWK grabbing added.
- v2.05: Log upload fix; ABBS WB window reduced from 10 → 5 nodes; added CTRL-X multiuser comment; !PUSH command fix.
- v2.04: Fixed QWK routine bugs and colors.
- v2.03: First release version.
- v2.02 (BETA): Various color fixes; default Doors:Node configs; Q S bug fixes; reply behavior improvements.
- v2.01 (BETA): Conference deletion bug fixed; AddMsg v2.4; file name length increased; SigOp fixes; buffer changes.
Features
Core Features
ABBS is a complete BBS system with conferences, fileareas, bulletins, misc doors, doors, fully arexx support, Sysop functionality and much more!
GUI Features
Lots has changed to ABBS main gui. It's totally re-designed. New buttons has been added to make things much easier for an everyday SysOp. Using system fonts that makes ABBS more compatible on running on other Amiga OSs and emulators etc.
Node, Speed, Status and Caller section has been re-defined a little, where it does not say "local" on all nodes on startup. The non-local speed text nodes means that this node is an non-local node that is waiting for a connection. There is also other changes where the caller is kept in the gui on a new register user attempt.
New buttons has been added: Edit User, ConfigNode, ConfigBBS, Show Stats.
ARexx Integration
ABBS comes with a full arexx function-set to use within your ABBS scripts. Including new functions added specially for ABBS.
| Command Name | Availability / Version |
|---|---|
| SETNODECITY | 3.1+ ONLY |
| SETNODEUSER | 3.1+ ONLY |
| SETNODESPEED | 3.1+ ONLY |
| GETNODECITY | 3.1+ ONLY |
| GETNODESPEED | 3.1+ ONLY |
| GETNODEUSER | 3.1+ ONLY |
| CLEARCALLERINFO | v2.x/3.x |
| REALBBSNAME | v2.x/3.x |
| BBSNAME | ALL |
| BREAKOUTIMAGE | ALL |
| EJECT | ALL |
| FILEINFO | ALL |
| GETCONSTAT | ALL |
| GETLINE | ALL |
| GETNEXTPARAM | ALL |
| LISTEN | ALL |
| MAYGETCHAR | ALL |
| MORE | ALL |
| NODENUMBER | ALL |
| NOMORE | ALL |
| OUTIMAGE | ALL |
| QUICK | ALL |
| RAW | ALL |
| READBITS | ALL |
| READCHAR | ALL |
| READUSERSETUP | ALL |
| RESUME | ALL |
| SETBITS | ALL |
| SETLOGINSCRIPT | ALL |
| SETSTATUSTEXT | ALL |
| SHUTDOWN | ALL |
| SIGOP | ALL |
| SUSPEND | ALL |
| SYSOP | ALL |
| SYSOPNAME | ALL |
| TIMELEFT | ALL |
| TYPEFILE | ALL |
| UNLISTEN | ALL |
| UNREAD | ALL |
| USERINFO | ALL |
| USERNAME | ALL |
| WRITECHAR | ALL |
| WRITETEXT | ALL |
| USERSETUP | ALL |
Utilities
| Utility Name | Description |
|---|---|
| ABBSUsers | A tool that can be used to print out all the users registered on your BBS. |
| AddFile | A program to add files direct into ABBS without logging in. |
| AddMsg | Same as AddFile, only for messages. |
| Broadcast | A tool you can use to send messages over the nodes using CLI. |
| ConfigBBS | This tool will help you to setup the BBS the first time, and when you need to change e.g passwords etc. |
| ConfigNode | This tool will help you to setup the BBSs nodes, like setting up serial, local or even Telnet nodes. |
| ConvertConfig | This tool will help you to upgrade from ABBS v1.x to ABBS v2.x/3.x branch. |
| Ditopconfs | A bulletin creator for ABBS - top x used conferences. |
| ditoplogins | A bulletin creator for ABBS - top x logins. |
| ditopwriters | A bulletin creator for ABBS - top x message writers. |
| flmaker | A tool to make a filelist with or without private conferences. |
| SysopAvail | A tool to toggle sysop available to chat. |
| UserEditor | A SysOp tool with a nice GUI to modify users. |
| ZapFile | A CLI tool that can be used to delete a file from the .FL files. |
Other Improvements
ABBS v3 has been optimized and many bugs has been fixed over the years. Also lots of new stuff has been added to ABBS, such as the OLD way of launching ABBS when setting up ABBS for the first time. Before it was problemtatic to make a clean install of ABBS, tools where made to make it easier. But, it was too much struggle, so Geir-Inge fixed the way ABBS started on zero config files.
As mentioned earlier, ABBS now comes with it's own board stats - this will show number of logins, how many messages that has been written, Uploads, downloads and so on.
Geir-inge started on AI implementation for ABBS. For the moment there are problems with bsdsocket.library/CURL and AmiSSL that makes CURL crash when being used - This is a project in progress and will be mentioned and talked more about when it works properly.
Credits
Original coder: Geir Inge Høsteng
Development: Jan Erik Olausen, Kåre Johansen
Current team: Geir Inge Høsteng, Kåre Johansen