Setting up a public access system (help!)

[James Deibele]

I'm setting up a Bell/Intel UNIX 3.2 system and I have some questions which I
can't seem to find answers for.

(1) I have looked at Sandy Zelkovitch's XBBS, and it seems like an excellent
program for someone who wants to run a UNIX-based BBS.  What I would like to 
do, however, is to have a menu-driven system for UNIX neophytes, something 
that will let them read and post news, read and send mail, and transfer files
without having to worry about learning UNIX.  I think people should learn to
use UNIX (some part of it, anyway), but at their own speed.  I'm using shell
scripts to make things easier for neophytes (I'd be interested in swapping
scripts or looking at anyone else's scripts if they want to mail or post them,
especially Bourne (because it's faster than the C shell) scripts).

(2) Because I'm dealing with UNIX neophytes, I'm afraid that they'll find
having all the newsgroups shoved at them at once too overwhelming.  I would
like them to be given a subset (local, city, state) of the newsgroups to
start with, then later let them add groups as they get acclimated.  I have
found that rn will use a file called "authorized" to limit the number of 
groups that the user first gets, but then the user is prompted on whether or
not to add other groups on subsequent calls.  Also, this would prevent users
who are lost from posting messages asking me for help in a worldwide newsgroup
(this happens at least once a week on FidoNet).  Is there a way of customizing
rn (or another reader) so that an individual could be assigned increasingly
more power as they grow accustomed to netiquette? (Read local, read + write
local, read world, read + write world).

I have scanned (and am rereading) _Using UUCP & Usenet_, _Managing UUCP & 
Usenet_, and _UNIX Communications_ as well as anything I can find that talks
about setting up serial ports on a UNIX box.  I've also been reading this
group for several months hoping that someone else would ask the same basic
questions, but no one has.  What I am trying to do is set up a public access
system where users are introduced as gently as possible to the power of 
electronic networking.  I've been doing this with FidoNet for quite a while,
holding meetings where people can come, ask questions, and get help with
telecomm.  That way, they have at least a shot at acting like good 
net.citizens.  I'm switching to UNIX because the e-mail is more powerful and
I can customize things more for people who have just gotten their first modem.

Thanks in advance!


-- 
James Deibele  jamesd at qiclab  BBSs: (503) 760-1473 or (503) 761-7451
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