[nos-bbs] max area name length

[Gustavo Ponza]

The 'areas' listed here are aligned as shown below...
than the 6 characters, also for historical reasons
(WA7MBL, F6FBB, ... PBBS), meets any type of PPBS
software running around the world (on fwd mode) and
gives a good compromise to exactly 'know' the matter
concerned with each area... and, specially in the
first packet-radio era, each byte(s) saved was like
a gold nugget :)

gus

  ------------
XNET,RMS,?,A,B,C,D,E,F,H,I,IH,IP,J,K,L,M,N,NR,O,P,PI,R,S,T,U,V,W,X,Z >
a
Current message area is: i0ojj

Available areas are:

i0ojj
           all       amsat     antenn    dxnews    help
homebr    info      jnos      meteo     packet    policy
radio     sysop     tutti     world

Type AF to get description of areas.
AF <name> tells more about that area.

------------
On 11/05/2012 04:33 PM, Michael Fox - N6MEF wrote:
> Thanks Gus.
>
> It looks like you've kept yours to 6 characters or less.  I like that.
>
> One of the area names that some folks here want is 11 characters long.
> Everything seems to work (as far as I can tell).  What I'm worried about is
> some internal restriction that may not be obvious to me in the behavior I
> observe.
>
> One thing I did notice was that the "a" or "area" command, which lists the
> areas in the areas file, expects area names of 9 characters or less.  The
> area names are presented at starting positions of 1, 10, 20, etc.
> characters.  So if the area name is more than 9 characters, the names run
> together.  It doesn't appear to affect functionality.  But the user won't
> know where one name starts and the other name ends.
>
> Michael
> N6MEF
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nos-bbs-bounces at tapr.org [mailto:nos-bbs-bounces at tapr.org] On Behalf
> Of Gustavo Ponza
> Sent: Monday, November 05, 2012 1:30 AM
> To: nos-bbs at tapr.org
> Subject: Re: [nos-bbs] max area name length
>
> For what concerns the 'areas' discipline and their application at
> i0ojj.ampr.org here is how...
>
> 73, gus i0ojj
>
> -----------
> all      General Info/Bulletins for all WW countries
> amsat    Info/News on Amateur Satellites
> antenn   *Antennas: theory, techniques and construction
> dxnews	 *Discussion, tips, notices and news for DXers
> help     Help with BBS Commands
> homebr   *Amateur radio construction and experimentation
> info     *Informational postings related to radio (M)
> jnos     JNOS Packet<>  TCP/IP software
> meteo	 Meteo conditions and forecasts
> packet   *Packet radio and other digital radio modes
> policy   *Scattered news
> radio	 Ham radio activities and related matter	
> sysop	 General Info/Bulletin for PBBS SysOps
> tutti    General Info/Bulletins for Italian country
> world	 A potpourri of arguments...
>
> # /spool/areas (May 13, 2011)
> # This file sets up the mailbox *public areas* and, optionally, # their
> *description data*.
> # You must use one line for each individual area.
> # *Private areas* (local user mails and fwd user mails do not # enter the
> list).
> # 'areas' lenght (mailbox names) MUST NOT EXCEED six characters!
> ------------
>
> On 11/05/2012 03:13 AM, Michael Fox - N6MEF wrote:
>> What is the maximum length for aJNOS bulletin area name?
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Michael
>>
>> N6MEF
>