Frequently asked questions related to the FrontDoor Mailer program (FD).

Q:

I use a “modem emulator” (SIO/VMODEM/NetSerial/etc) for connecting to other systems over the Internet using Telnet or Vmodem. I have put telephone number overrides in FDNODE.CTL. But when FD goes to call for example ipv4.domain.com, it always reports “NO CARRIER”.

A:
The problem here lies with the name of the remote system. FD is doing dial string translation and interprets the lowercase 'v' as “Lower DTR”. This will usually have the effect that the “modem” (or emulator in this case) aborts any attempts at calling. You can either do a manual name resolution lookup (i.e. nslookup ipv4.domain.com) and replace the system's hostname with the IP-address, or you can ask the remote operator to set-up an alias for their hostname that does not include the lowercase 'v'. This problem will most likely be addressed in a future version of FD.

Q:
My telephone network operator offers something called “Distinctive Ring” whereby different audible ring signals are generated based on which number the caller used when calling me. How do I configure FD to only answer on a specific number/ring signal?

A:
For the “Distinctive Ring” feature to be used with FD, your modem must be able to distinguish between the different types of ring signals and issue different RING messages; e.g. RING1, RING2, RING3, ..

Once you have configured your modem to issue the appropriate RING message for your modem/BBS number, you must change the MODEM.STATUS MESSAGES.RING setting to the appropriate message; e.g. RING1