Chapter 5 - Personal Packet Mailbox
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CHAPTER 5
KANTRONICS PERSONAL PACKET MAILBOX
INTRODUCTION
The Kantronics ALL MODE Communicator includes the Personal Packet Mailbox. The PERSONAL
PACKET MAILBOX configures your KAM so that messages may be left by you or other stations "in"
your communicator for later retrieval by you or the other stations. The personal mailbox uses the
memory storage of the packet unit, so your mailbox may be left on the air without your Computer,
or any Computer attached. While not intended as a community PBBS, your Personal Packet Mail-
box includes a feature which allows large community PBBS stations to download your messages to
your personal mailbox.
The Kantronics Personal Packet Mailbox operates with commands similar to those found on
many popular W0RLI-type bulletin boards. These are
List
,
Read
,
Send
,
Kill
, and
Bye
. Similar com-
mands, as outlined below, allow the owner of the personal bulletin board to access, edit, and leave
messages for others. An additional command,
MYPbbs
, allows for a new alias for your personal
mailbox.
You may leave messages for others by direct entry from the keyboard in Command Mode, or
by connecting to your mailbox via a distant digipeater. There are specific message length limita-
tions on messages entered by you directly from the keyboard. This limitation does not affect mes-
sages entered via a distant digipeater or by other stations which access your mailbox.
The Personal Packet Mailbox includes a timer circuit which will automatically disconnect should
there be no activity for approximately 3.5 minutes. This will prevent a "connected" Station from
leaving the mailbox in an unaccessible state.
MAILBOX OPERATOR COMMANDS
These commands are issued by you, from your keyboard, to establish the conditions under
which the personal mailbox will operate. All commands must be entered from the command mode
(at the
cmd:
prompt).
MYPbbs
(callsign or alias)
Enter up to six characters which will be used as the operating address for your personal
mailbox. If no entry is made, the mailbox will use your callsign entered at sign-on of your
unit. SSID suffixes may be used with this command.
PBBS n
default 0
n
may be any number from 0 to 21. This number activates the personal mailbox and sets
the amount of RAM allocated to the personal mailbox function in kilobytes. This is a static
allocation and is subtracted from the total RAM available for all buffering functions. Chang-
ing the PBBS RAM allocation will reset the unit and erase any messages stored in the per-
sonal mailbox.
PBDisconnect
This is an immediate command. It may be used by the PBBS operator to force a disconnect
of any Station connected to the Personal Packet Mailbox.
PBKill n
This command is uaed to delete messages in the personal mailbox. Any message in the
box, regardless of originating or destination station address, can be deleted from your mail-
box by you.