__NOTOC__ Maximus is a

bulletin board system A bulletin board system (BBS), also called computer bulletin board service (CBBS), is a computer server running software that allows users to connect to the system using a terminal program. Once logged in, the user can perform functions such as ...

, originally developed by Scott J. Dudley through his company, Lanius Corporation. The software was first written and released for both

MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few ope ...

and

OS/2 OS/2 (Operating System/2) is a series of computer operating systems, initially created by Microsoft and IBM under the leadership of IBM software designer Ed Iacobucci. As a result of a feud between the two companies over how to position OS/2 ...

, with later versions supporting 32-bit

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

operating systems. The MS-DOS version interfaced with the serial port (and thus the modem) through a

FOSSIL A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

driver. Version 1.0 was released in 1990, with versions 2.0 and 3.01 following in 1991 and 1995. The source code for Maximus and its companion utilities, such as Squish, was released under the

GNU General Public License The GNU General Public License (GNU GPL or simply GPL) is a series of widely used free software licenses that guarantee end users the Four Freedoms (Free software), four freedoms to run, study, share, and modify the software. The license was th ...

in 2002. It has since been ported to run under

Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which ...

, and other

Unix-like A Unix-like (sometimes referred to as UN*X or *nix) operating system is one that behaves in a manner similar to a Unix system, although not necessarily conforming to or being certified to any version of the Single UNIX Specification. A Unix-li ...

operating systems. By default, Maximus provides a relatively basic interface for BBS callers rendered in either

ANSI The American National Standards Institute (ANSI ) is a private non-profit organization that oversees the development of voluntary consensus standards for products, services, processes, systems, and personnel in the United States. The organi ...

ASCII ASCII ( ), abbreviated from American Standard Code for Information Interchange, is a character encoding standard for electronic communication. ASCII codes represent text in computers, telecommunications equipment, and other devices. Because of ...

, compared with other BBS software. Menu layout is auto-generated and simply-drawn. With some effort, however, it is very customisable, including a provision for a system operator to supply RIP graphics for users. When BBS systems were popular, Maximus often appealed to system operators who wanted a system that appeared light-weight, but also to those who wanted great flexibility in their ability to customise their system's looks and behaviour. Maximus configuration is entirely through editing text files, prior to running a

compiler In computing, a compiler is a computer program that translates computer code written in one programming language (the ''source'' language) into another language (the ''target'' language). The name "compiler" is primarily used for programs that ...

to convert the text files to binary configuration files. Maximus has supported two independent programming languages for system operators to customise their BBS. Both are compiled to Maximus-recognised byte-code before being used: * The ''MECCA'' language is primarily display-oriented, providing basic tokens to indicate actions such as colour changes for text displayed to a user, and simple functionality for designing things such as menus that require user input, or writing certain information to files on disk to exchange information with

BBS door In a bulletin board system (BBS), a door is an interface between the BBS software and an external application. The term is also used to refer to the external application, a computer program that runs outside of the main bulletin board program. Som ...

programs. * Since the release of version 3.0 of Maximus, in December 1995, the ''MEX'' language is a more structured,

Turing-complete In computability theory, a system of data-manipulation rules (such as a computer's instruction set, a programming language, or a cellular automaton) is said to be Turing-complete or computationally universal if it can be used to simulate any Tur ...

programming language, that borrows ideas from C,

Pascal Pascal, Pascal's or PASCAL may refer to: People and fictional characters * Pascal (given name), including a list of people with the name * Pascal (surname), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name ** Blaise Pascal, Fren ...

BASIC BASIC (Beginners' All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) is a family of general-purpose, high-level programming languages designed for ease of use. The original version was created by John G. Kemeny and Thomas E. Kurtz at Dartmouth College ...

, and a selection of similar languages. MEX provides supports for functions, structures, arrays, strings, and several additional complex concepts. Using MEX, system operators can write reasonably complex programs to run on their BBS and interact with users.

References

External links

* {{sourceforge, maximus
The Maximus Home Page (archive from 2009)
Bulletin board system software DOS software OS/2 software

See also

References

Further reading

External links