22-Apr-07: JNOS is based on Phil KA9Q's ‘Network Operating System’ (NOS) for packet radio that was originally written back in the late 80’s.  JNOS is one of many variations of NOS that provides the amateur packet community with a BBS application environment with a strong emphasis on networking.  JNOS supports both the AX25 and TCP/IP protocols thereby making it an excellent test bed for understanding networking.

While JNOS was originally written to run on DOS PC’s, a JNOS 2.0 version has been created and released for Linux, Windows, OS/2, and MacOS X.

There are plenty of references for JNOS on the internet; search for "JNOS BBS".  The links below are excellent sources of JNOS information from Maiko VE4KLM (1st link) and John KF8KK (2nd and 3rd links).

http://www.langelaar.net/projects/jnos2/

https://www.scc-ares-races.org/packet/jnos.html

Outpost users of JNOS BBSs should be set up as EXPERTS.  The following JNOS commands should be executed during a manual BBS session before using Outpost.

Expert and Paging Commands

You must set yourself up as an EXPERT user on the BBS before using Outpost with JNOS.  The Xpert command toggles the prompts that the system gives.  Three X commands should be set as follows:

1. X : toggles between long and short prompts.  
   Set to Short Prompts.

2. XA : toggles the 'current area' indication on or off; 
   Set to "XA OFF".

You also must turn Paging off. This "feature" was originally built into many BBSs to accommodate a time when we used dumb terminals that didn't have much display memory and we didn't want messages to fly by w/o seeing the text. Manually log on to the BBS, and enter the command here. 

1. XM : shows or sets the number of lines before -more- prompting occurs in lists.  
   Set "XM 0" for no paging (to disable the -more- prompt from occurring). 

IMPLEMENTATION
SID = [JNOS-2.0e-BFHIM$]
Outpost looks for the "[JNOS" phrase of the SID as the means for identifying this BBS.

CONFIRMATION
Confirmed operational and released with the v2.2.1 distribution.

CONSIDERATIONS
1.  The JNOS BBS prompt picks up the last message ID that was read as part of the prompt.  Outpost will use the ") >" prompt sequence as the JNOS prompt. 

2.  If Retrieve Filtered is selected (Tools > Send/Receive Settings, Tab 2), Outpost will treat these as BBS Areas and use the BBS Area Commands to check these areas.

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SPECIAL CONFIGURATIONS, SETTINGS

There are some specific setups that need to be performed as part of the JNOS configuration as well as by the user.

1. Autoexec.nos file

Problems with specific JNOS settings have been reported and recommendations for their settings are made here.  This listing is not complete, and will be updated as new problems are identified and resolved.

mbox sendquery off

Typically located in the MBOX command group.  If ON, users will be queried if they really want to send the message after they have typed the ^Z or /ex when sending a message.  'N' or 'n' will abort, anything else will send the message.  

Outpost does not expect this prompt and will stop processing.  This setting should be set to OFF.