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Table of Contents
Command Shells (User Guide)
A command shell is the Synchronet module that draws the BBS's menus and prompts and decides what each key you press does. Every Synchronet user runs a command shell once they've logged on; the shell determines the entire post-logon look-and-feel.
This page is the user-facing index of shells. For the sysop / configuration perspective, see command_shell.
Stock shells shipped with Synchronet
- Synchronet Classic (
default.js) — emulates the Synchronet v1 user interface; the default for most BBSes - Synchronet Novice / Simple (
simple.bin) — simplified interface for beginners - WWIV Clone (
wwiv.bin) - PCBoard Clone (
pcboard.bin) - Wildcat! Clone (
wildcat.bin) - MajorBBS Clone (
major.bin) - Renegade Clone (
renegade.bin) - Oblivion/2 Clone (
obv-2.bin) - Deuce's Lightbar Shell (
lbshell.js) - Simulated MS-DOS (
sdos.bin)
A BBS may also run a third-party or custom shell that isn't listed here. Ask your sysop, or check shell.bin / shell.js in their distribution.
Switching shells
If the BBS makes more than one shell available to you, you can pick which shell to use from the User Settings menu. That menu is itself a loadable module (see User Settings), not part of the shell — so you reach it via whatever key your current shell binds to it. In Classic, that's D from the Main prompt. The BBS remembers your choice across sessions.
If only one shell is available — or if your account is restricted to a specific shell — you won't see a chooser.
Which shell am I using?
- Classic shows
Main:andFile:prompts and the standard Synchronet menus. - Wildcat / PCBoard / Renegade / WWIV / MajorBBS / Oblivion-2 clones each present prompts and menus that match those classic BBS programs. If the BBS feels like a non-Synchronet system you remember, you're probably in one of those.
- Lightbar (lbshell) uses arrow-key navigation across highlighted menu items rather than letter commands.
- Simple / Novice presents a simplified, more guided interface.
- sdos simulates an MS-DOS prompt — you type things like
DIR,CD MAIL, etc.
What's the same across every shell?
Some things don't change no matter which shell you're using, because Synchronet itself (or a separate loadable module) handles them rather than the shell:
- Control-key commands — Ctrl-S, Ctrl-Q, Ctrl-C, Ctrl-U, Ctrl-P, Ctrl-K, Ctrl-T
- Ctrl-A text attribute codes in messages and display files
- Login happens before the shell starts
- The message editor is a separate loadable module
- User Settings menu is a separate loadable module (the shell binds a key to invoke it)
- Mail, Message bases, Chat, Online listings are typically loadable modules — the shell calls them, but their UIs are the module's
The exceptions are shells that bundle their own integrated UI rather than calling the stock modules. Deuce's Lightbar Shell (lbshell), for example, uses its own integrated User Settings interface instead of the stock user_settings module.
See Also
- Baja — language used by most stock shells
