InterLink

History

InterLink was developed as a low cost, easy to use, and superior linking package in comparison to other linkup software on the market. InterLink allows you to link to any other Major BBS system that also has the InterLink module and that allows links.

Plugins for InterLink were possible. Originally, the GameLink product plugged into and operated over InterLink.

InterLink was written by Don Pitchford, and distributed by ProStar. It was sold to Logicom, who then sold it to John Kovl of Anchorite in 1997. The source code was lost on John Kovl's drive when it crashed, and he threw out the drive rather than get it recovered.

Module Information

InterLink is similar to the standard and Entertainment Teleconference except for one big difference! Many systems may be "linked" together allowing conference users to chat with each other across the network. For instance, Joe's BBS in Florida may be linked with Bob's BBS in New York allowing conference users on both systems to chat with each other. But that's just the beginning! There can be any number of systems linked together at any given time, creating one HUGE multi-user conference. And chatting isn't the only thing you can do across the network. Following is a brief list of some of commands available while in conference.

Commands

While in conference, anything you type goes out over the network to everyone who happens to be on your channel at the time. In addition, you may use any of the following commands:

NOTE: All commands may be abbreviated to only the first few unique characters. Parameters shown in brackets are required and must be specified. Parameters shown in <braces> are optional and may be omitted.

/[who] [...]             - Same as whisper.
>[who] [...]             - Send message directed at user.
//[...]                  - Whisper to same user again.
/ACTIONS                 - Lists available action words.
/CHANNEL [name]          - Change to this channel name.
/NET <node>              - Displays linked node information.
/NPAGE [who] <...>       - Page user.
/NREG [who]              - Display Registry information on user.
/SCAN <channel> or <ALL> - Displays list of conference users.
/NUSERS <node>           - Displays list of users online at node.
/WHISPER [who] [...]     - Send message privately to user.

For more detailed help on any of the above commands, type ? or HELP while in conference.

Hints & Tips

The term "node" refers to any system that is linked to the network. Each node has it's own unique Node-ID consisting of three or more characters. For example:

  Node-ID  System Name                       Location
  -------  --------------------------------  --------------------
      JBS  Joe's BBS System                  Florida
      BOB  Bob's Meg-a-Files Online Service  New York

The Node-ID is used the identify a particular system or a user at that system. For instance, there may be a user called Sysop at Joe's BBS in Florida, and another user called Sysop at Bob's system. To identify which Sysop a message is from, the Node-ID is attached to the user's name:

  ***
  From Sysop@JBS: Hello everyone!

By looking at the Node-ID you know the message came from Sysop at Joe's BBS in Florida.

If you want to get a message to a particular user as fast as possible it is advised that you specify the Node-ID where that user resides. For example:

  /Whisper Sysop@JBS Hello, how's it going?

If you had ommitted the Node-ID, the system would have had to search each and every node to find out where Sysop was. Depending on the number of nodes linked, this could be very time consuming, not to mention all the communication traffic between nodes.

Just remember that whenever you can, you should use the Node-ID to speed things up.