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ENiGMA½ BBS

About File Areas

A Different Approach

Section titled “A Different Approach”

ENiGMA½ has strayed away from the old familiar setup here and instead takes a more modern approach:

  • Gazelle inspired system for searching & browsing files.
  • No conferences (just areas!)
  • File areas are still around but should generally be used less. Instead, files can have one or more tags. Think things like dos.retro, pc.warez, games, etc.

Other bells and whistles

Section titled “Other bells and whistles”
  • Temporary web (http:// or https://) download links in addition to standard X/Y/Z protocol support. Batch downloads of many files can be downloaded as a single ZIP archive. See Web Downloads below.
  • Users can rate files & search/filter by ratings.
  • Users can also create and save their own filters for later use such as “Latest Artscene Releases” or “C64 SIDs”.
  • A given area can span one to many physical storage locations.
  • Upload processor can extract and use FILE_ID.DIZ/DESC.SDI, for standard descriptions as well as README.TXT, *.NFO, and so on for longer descriptions. The processor also attempts release year estimation by scanning aforementioned description file(s).
  • Fast indexed Full Text Search (FTS) across descriptions and filenames.
  • Duplicates are checked for by cryptographically secure SHA-256 hashes.
  • Support for many archive and file formats. External utilities can easily be added to the configuration to extend for additional formats.
  • Much, much more!
  • FidoNet file echo support — see TIC Support.

Web Downloads

Section titled “Web Downloads”

Alongside the legacy X/Y/ZModem protocols, files can be handed out as temporary HTTP(S) links served by the built-in web server. A link expires after fileBase::web::expireMinutes (24 hours by default), and the URL is built from contentServers::web::domain, preferring HTTPS where it is enabled and falling back to HTTP. Users end up with something like:

https://xibalba.vip:44512/f/h7JK

The queue users build these links from is the File Base Web Download Manager.

Modding

Section titled “Modding”

The default ENiGMA½ approach for file areas may not be for everyone. Remember that you can mod everything your setup! Some inspirational examples:

  • A more traditional set of areas and scrolling file listings.
  • An S/X style integration of message areas and file areas.
  • Something completely different! Some tweaks are possible without any code while others may require creating new JavaScript modules to use instead of the defaults.