Title: Creating a Web-Based Bulletin Board (PC Version)

Purpose: In this tutorial you will learn how to setup a bulletin board using your Fallon account. WebBBS is a web-based bulletin board system that stores messages as simple text files and allows users to respond to messages in a very organized fashion. By storing messages in strands, browsers can quickly and easily access full documentation on a topic.

1. In order to create a web-based bulletin board, you must have a Fallon account. If you have an e-mail address that ends in @scs.unr.edu or @unr.nevada.edu, you already have a Fallon account. Otherwise, you will need to sign up for a Fallon account by following this link: http://www.scs.nevada.edu/cs/internet/accounts.html

2. Once you have a Fallon account, you can sign up for a bulletin board at the following link: http://www.scs.nevada.edu/cs/documents/cgi/webbbs-signupr.html

The form is very strait forward. It is shown below.

• One thing you need to keep in mind is that your BBS name and description are permanent. Once you enter those, you cannot change them. So, if this will be a bulletin board you plan to use over and over again, you will probably want the name to be generic and avoid specifying semesters or dates.
• Make sure that you use only letters and numbers without spaces for the BBS name. Unusual symbols such as: #,%,*,_,&,- are invalid. In the above example, “test” is the bulletin board name. This name will not appear on the actual bulletin board, it will be the name of the directory in your Fallon account that stores the messages.
• The BBS description will be the title of your bulletin board and will appear on your bulletin board. In the example below, “test bulletin board” is the bulletin board description.

3. Once you submit the form, you will see a page that looks like this:

Make sure to print out a copy of this page, as you will need this URL to access the bulletin board once you have finished setting it up.

4. Now, check your Fallon e-mail account. You should have received an e-mail from support@nevada.edu. The e-mail contains a ‘pearl script’ that will set up your new BBS.

5. In order to run the script, you have to telnet into your Fallon account and use Pine to access the e-mail. To do this, click on the windows start button located in the lower left hand corner of your screen. A menu will pop up and you should select “Run…” In the box that appears (see below), type in “telnet fallon.unr.edu” and hit ok.

5. A telnet screen will open and you will be prompted to type in your login (everything before @ in your e-mail address) and enter your password.

6. Once you have done this another prompt will appear that looks like this:

7. Just hit enter and you will receive a Fallon prompt. Type in pine and hit enter.

8. You will now be taken into Pine and can access your e-mail. The main menu should look like this:

9. Use your arrow keys to highlight Message Index and press enter

10. All your e-mail messages will appear. Again, use your arrow keys to highlight the message from support@nevada.edu and press enter.

11. You should now see the message in your telnet screen. Press the letter e on your keyboard and you will be prompted to export the message to your home directory (see below). You will need to name the file. I used “inst-test” as the name of my file because the name of my bulletin board is test. Use inst-bbsname as the name of your file, substituting the name of your bulletin board for “bbsname” and press enter.

12. The message has now been exported, and you can quit pine. Hit q, the program will ask if you really want to quit. Press y to confirm. You will now be taken back to the Fallon prompt.

13. At the Fallon prompt, type in “pico inst-bbsname” (again substitute your bulletin board name for bbsname as I have below) and press enter.

14. Pico, a text editor, will open the file. You will see a screen that looks like this:

You will need to remove all the text above and including the line that says, “remove this line and everything above it”. Since your cursor is already blinking on the first line, press Ctrl and K together to delete the top line. Keep pressing Ctrl + K until you delete the last line that says, “remove this line….”. Now save the file by pressing Ctrl and the letter O together (crtl+o). Just press enter to accept the file name. Use Ctrl and X (crtl+x) to exit from Pico. You will now be taken back to a Fallon prompt.

15. At the Fallon prompt type in “chmod 711 inst-bbsname” (again substitute the name of your bulletin board for bbsname as I have below) and press enter.

16. You are now ready to complete the last step for creating your first bulletin board. At the Fallon prompt type in “./inst-bbsname” (again substituting the name of your bulletin board for bbsname, as I have below) and press enter. You should receive a confirmation message letting you know the installation was successful.

17. Congratulations, you have successfully set up your first bulletin board. You can access the board at the URL contained on the page you printed out earlier. If you have lost that page, the address should be:

http://cgi.scsr.nevada.edu/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/login/bbsname

Of course you will need to use your own login and bbsname in the address.