I hope this article doesn't seem like advertising because thats the furthest thing from my mind. At least advertising for someone else's product! I just recently set up a home page on the internet for my BBS door games and Door World Magazine. It was something I had envisioned a couple of times but thought it would be very difficult and expensive. I was wrong on both counts. Some or most of this article may be old news for some of you savy internet types out there but I'm betting a lot of sysops and authors will be interested in this. I received in the mail one day an advertisement for a service called WinNet which offered among other things a free WEB page and FTP site. The rates were fairly reasonable at $19.95 a month which included four hours of free online time each month and all their access numbers are 1-800. This is what I meant about advertising for them. One of my local BBS's gives unlimited internet time at $20.00 per month, which is a great deal but no WEB browser as of yet. It was the home page and having my own FTP site which really grabbed me anyway. So I dusted off the old credit card, loaded up the windows software that came with the mailing and subscribed. I have to tell you that I was impressed with the setup. After my trials and tribulations with different fido technology front ends and BBS's, this software was a joy to set up. All one really had to do was enter the vital information and the software takes over. It called to set up the account, waited a few minutes to give the server some time to process the new info, then called back and sent me some very helpful mail. The service has a web browser that works in conjunction with their software. One of the mailing described in detail how to obtain it and set it up. Another piece of mail talked about FTP and yet another program designed to simplify the task of putting files on my own ftp site and obtaining files from other ftp sites. Of course it included details about getting it and setting it up. There was also some mail which I found very interesting about how I could modify my own home page and grab a file which was an HTML programming primer. HTML being the language used in home page technology. Setting up all the above only took about 30 minutes! I was hesitant about learning another programming language when I had so much work to do on my own doors. (Terra-Firma being in the middle of a big upgrade) but one quick glance at the HTML primer and I was hooked. Very straight forward with lot's of examples! Now I had to do something with my home page. I searched my local BBS's for some graphic type files and found one that converts ANSI to GIF. GIF being the file type of choice for HTML. I converted my door game ansi screens to .gif files and inserted them into my home page along with a few other funny gifs I have collected. I also changed a few simple things on the page like visitors being able to NetMail me and grab files from my FTP site. Wa-La! I was on the internet! If you would like to check it out, I can be found at fttp:/www.win.net/~terrafirma/welcome.html. It looks as good as most of the other WEB pages I have seen. My next difficulty will be to program my home page so that I can accept credit card orders over the net. This involves quite a bit more expertise with HTML and C so I have put it on hold until I get my upgrade for Terra-Firma out the door. The gist of this article was to inform and not to advertise, but I feel I must include the number for WinNet and where one can find the ANSI to GIF converter program. By the way, the program that converts ansi to gif will also convert most other type graphic files as well. It is a shareware product. WinNet is strictly a commercial product. Also, some other door authors that I converse with by NetMail have found some other services that offer just about the same deal as WinNet. So if you are really interested in having your own home page and ftp site you may want to shop around. WinNet Communications, Inc. Voice 502-589-6800 Fax 502-589-7300 The information below is from the SDN.ID file included with the archive of the graphics program. The archived file can be found on any BBS carrying the SDN Fidonet filebone. GDS31F.ARJ or ZIP GDS 3.1f Graphics Viewer/Converter GDS GIF JPEG JPG ANSI BMP VIEW VIEWER CSHOW VPIC VIDVUE THUMBS FILES: gds31f Author: Photodex Corporation Registration: $39.95 The Graphics Display System v3.1f. Copyright (c)1991-95 by Photodex Corp. The PC's Graphics Processor "If you haven't seen GDS, you're missing the big picture..." * Reads 37 file formats and displays any still format to any mode * Converts to 37 separate format variations * Views with mouse click or from command line * Converts from menu or command line, including rotation and flipping * Slideshows from menu, button or command line * Creates thumbnail catalog pages from menu or command line * Automatic video detection and configuration process * 5000+ lines of cross-referenced hypertext help using [F1] key * Prints detailed 103 page User's Manual * 80+ command line parameters for hard-core users * Staged configuration files for network installations * Super configurable for interface and runtime defaults * GDS is legally licensed under Unisys' LZW patent Supported: GIF JPG PCX PCC RAX .DL Supported: Herc VGA File : BMP TIF MAC RIX RFX .GL Video : CGA SVGA Formats : TGA LBM BBM IFF ANSi IMG Hardware: EGA XGA PBM PGM PPM JFI DIB CUT VESA TIGA (37 total) RLE HAM MPG MP2 MPA TXT GDS ICO FLI FLC FLX WPG BMF GDS is the most flexible bitmapped graphics utility available for the PC. It is used by most sysops on CompuServe to catalog tens of thousands of images on-line, and by countless BBS sysops for maintaning graphics libraries. GDS makes it simple to navigate through huge amounts of data. GDS supports reading from and writing to virtually all popular file formats. GDS produces the best 24 to 8-bit conversions available. Photodex has benchmarked GDS against most available utilities, and not yet found one which produces better output, or even equal to GDS's 8-bit output quality. The simple point-and-shoot interface for the GDS file list carries through to catalog pages as well. After creating a catalog, GDS provides the ability to click on a thumbnail and view the original image. Special versions of GDS are available for CD-ROM production, more information is enclosed with this version of GDS. You can even catalog ANSI text files! ANSI FILES! GDS is now an ANSI file viewer! Professional versions of GDS even convert any graphics file TO COLOR ANSI TEXT! This is done with a sophisticated algorithm which matches the ANSI character set to an image, creating a text file with the minimum amount of distortion possible. Absolutely necessary for modern BBS sysops who have to keep up with the times! Remember, ANSI will be around for a long time, as will GIF. This version supports 25 simultaneous files, and printing is reserved for enhanced version users only. Enhanced version handles up to 2,726 files in any number of paths. Some of the more sophisticated command line options are reserved for enhanced version users. This trial version is 100% functional as a powerful file viewer and cataloger. Enhanced versions are available from Photodex for $39.95+s/h, and come with a comprehensive quick-start users guide and a 3.5" disk. All documentation is included with this version, including the 103 page manual (see Help menu). Enhanced versions print graphics to HP PCL (LaserJet II, III, 4, and HP DeskJet color) printers. Professional versions have many powerful features including scanning to some scanners, and very powerful batch cataloging functions. See accompanying documentation for more detailed information. Photodex Corporation is the company to secure a license to Unisys' patent regarding LZW compression (used in GIF and LZW compressed TIFF files) since Unisys' announcement in Dec. 1994. GDS is covered under this license with Unisys, and is not an infringing product. To avoid legal problems, use only legal GIF and LZW TIFF software which has been properly licensed by Unisys. Hardware Requirements: PC-compatible computer, 512K RAM, graphics. Other Requirements: DOS 2.x or higher. See ya next month, Dave wendling@terrafirma.win.net NetMail 1:332/107 þ