First of all, you should have running Linux
with a GUI installed. I am fully satisfied
with Gnome GUI but I suppose that KDE will
be OK too (or any other GUI available).
Download or copy LinFBB (the main ftp site
is
ftp.f6fbb.org but there are many mirror
sites too). For example, if you get a file
like
x700e_full.tgz
it means that it is X11 version 7.00e and it
contains all you need in tgz archive to install
the BBS. On the other hand, a name like
xd700g_full.tgz
means that it is not X11 but daemon version 7.00g
and it is also complete to unpack. Further,
x700f01.tgz
and
x700g.tgz
are "upgrades" to any previous "full" package.
For example, after I have upgraded to x700g.tgz
I started to run X11 LinFBB 7.00g (04 August 1998).
BTW, X11 versions are not maintained anymore, but
I still run it here. It has some bugs but I like it.
Copy the archive file in /tmp directory.
You have to make a "base" directory where
your FBB will be installed. For example you
may type: mkdir /usr/local/fbb if you want
FBB to be there. You have to be logged as
'root' or 'superuser' to install FBB.
Then, you should locate yourself in that
directory: cd /usr/local/fbb.
Now, you should unpack the archive:
tar xvzf /tmp/x700b25.tgz (<-- use the right
name of the archive here).
When you finished unpacking the archive,
you may continue installing the software:
./install.sh is the command for that. The
setup will ask you for the 'base' directory
where FBB will be installed. If you chose
/usr/local/fbb again, you will be told that
such directory already exists and all files
will be overwritten. It is OK, so you should
answer yes. If everything is fine, you should
see on the screen that fbb system
directories are created. At the beginning
of that procedure, program will ask you for
BBS's callsign, name of the city, QTH
locator, your name etc. That details will
become a part of /usr/local/fbb/init.srv
file.
After that, you MUST check this file
again manually in order to fix some other
details needed (because installation script does
not fix all parts within that file).
Well, so far - so good. After you have checked
all configuration files, you may start the
software: ./xfbb.sh (<-- type this within
an xterm or something similar). When you
start your BBS for the first time, it will ask
you to create some files it needs, so you
should answer "yes" to the questions.