ProBoard is a computer program that allows you to run a BBS.

A BBS is a computerized Bulletin Board System, where files, messages and other useful items may be exchanged between users.

The operator of a BBS is called the System Operator, or SysOp.

The SysOp is responsible for setting up and maintaining the BBS, therefore, this manual is primarily geared towards the SysOp, or people who are interested in becoming SysOps.

ProBoard has everything you need to efficiently run a BBS, and more! It's state of the art technology allows you to run a BBS without consuming large amounts of your hard disk space.

ProBoard provides the ability to run a multi-node BBS, allowing more than one user to be online at a time. It's small size and lightning fast speed make it ideal for running under a multi-tasker like DESQview, or on a network.

ProBoard also fully supports the ability to interface with mail networks such as FidoNet, UseNet, EchoNet, and mail processors such as SQUISH, FastEcho, GEcho, Fmail, and others.

The greatest asset of ProBoard, is it's ability to be enhanced by you the user, through the use of programs written in C/C++ using the provided ProBoard SDK (Software Development Kit). You can do virtually anything with your BBS using the SDK and a C/C++ compiler. Programs written with the ProBoard SDK are called PEX (ProBoard Executable) files. This built in “PEXability” assures you that there's nothing ProBoard can't do!

You do not have to be a C/C++ programmer to enjoy the benefits of ProBoard's SDK or these PEX files. There are many 3rd party PEX files available for ProBoard right now with more being released every day.

ProBoard has the ability to run most, if not all doors programs and other utilities written for other BBS systems such as PCBoard, QuickBBS (QBBS), SuperBBS, RemoteAccess (RA), etc.

When running an external program, ProBoard can swap itself to disk/EMS, and stay resident in approximately 2KB of memory!!

ProBoard is highly configurable because it allows you to use either the SQUISH, Fido Compatible *.MSG, JAM or the HUDSON message base formats for the contents of your message base. In addition to supporting all four of these formats for the message base, ProBoard allows you to configure your BBS to use all four at the same time. Name one other BBS that allows you this flexibility!

Not flexible enough yet? Consider then that ProBoard allows you to configure up to 10,000 message areas, and additionally 10,000 file areas. ProBoard also supports the use of CD-ROM drives. Flexibility!!!

Most, if not all, known utilities for RemoteAccess (RA) v1.11 as well as RemoteAccess v2.x, will work with this version of ProBoard.

ProBoard is remarkably easy to setup with the supplied PROCFG.EXE file. Most users are up and running within a few short painless (even enjoyable) hours.

We hope you will have as much fun running ProBoard as we did developing it.

Thank you for choosing ProBoard, “The Choice of Professionals”.