MAX's BBS Doors

MAX's BBS was very popular dial-up bulletin board software largely in use before the internet became so ubiquitous. Bulletin Boards were online services accessed via a telephone number using a modem. The user was presented with a menu system based around ANSI or occasionally RIP graphics and could download files, play games, read mail or chat with other users. For a more in depth explanation see the BBS definition on Wikipedia.

During the 90s I ran a BBS called "The Jelly Zone" which originally ran on MAX's BBS but later changed to running Zeus. In that time I wrote several doors for MAX's to extend its functionality. Most of the doors are written in Amiga E or AMOS Basic. I wrote many more than are presented here, but unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately!) they've suffered from bit-rot and vanished.

AmiQuote Pro was a sort of message board. When users logged in they could basically leave a message on the wall and choose from a variety of colours and styles. I stopped at Version 3.2, but further work was continued by Peter Gordon (aka Mr Tickle) to bring it up to Version 1.1 Pro

Not strictly a door but an external utility intended for the SysOp (System Operator) so that they could generate lists of files on their BBS for users to download. Users often downloaded file lists to browse them offline rather than wasting money on their phone call browsing online. DFB was an expansion to MAX's that allowed significantly more files to be held in the filebase. DFB-FLG could generate lists in various configurable formats include ASCII text and AmigaGuide.

JZ BBS Lister basically allows SysOps (System Operators) to advertise their BBSs and users could view the lists or download them in a variety of compressed formats.

If users wished to speak to the Sysop for whatever reason, they could page him. The user would choose a reason to page the sysop and could choose from a variety of music modules (both MEDs and Protrackers) as well as sound samples (IFF 8SVX) and the system beep. The SysOp would hear the sound and could choose to speak to the user or ignore them. Simple really :-)

Raw downloading basically refers to the ability of priviledged users to download approved files directly from the SysOps hard drive. These files were usually not available in the public file base for various reasons and was often used as a convenient method to send someone some files.

MaxRexx allows people to write doors for MAX's BBS in the AREXX scripting language. Some of the work for this was also done by Peter Gordon.

Mr Lotto is a simple little door which lets users win online time if their numbers matched those chosen by Mr Lotto.