• RPi4 x8 gig ram

    From gcubebuddy@21:4/129 to All on Fri Apr 30 17:54:36 2021
    Ok so today i bit the RPi4 bullet and ordered a Cana kit and a 1 tb microSD card off amazon. hopefully should be here this next week. i am also expecting the US Robotics external modem to show up as well. so i will have the
    complete kit to start building my RPi BBS box. Does anyone have any tips on
    how to build it? or any "gotchas" to watch out for?

    Thanks
    - Gamecube Buddy

    telnet --<{bbs.hive32.com:23333}>--

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: Hive32 (21:4/129)
  • From Morgul@21:1/207 to Gcubebuddy on Fri Apr 30 15:30:08 2021
    BY: gcubebuddy(21:4/129)


    |11g|09> |10Ok so today i bit the RPi4 bullet and ordered a Cana kit and a 1 tb|07
    |11g|09> |10microSD |07
    |11g|09> |10card off amazon. hopefully should be here this next week. i am also|07
    |11g|09> |10expecting|07
    |11g|09> |10the US Robotics external modem to show up as well. so i will have the|07
    |11g|09> |10complete kit to start building my RPi BBS box. Does anyone have any tips|07
    |11g|09> |10on|07
    |11g|09> |10how to build it? or any "gotchas" to watch out for?|07
    |11g|09> |07
    8 GB is probably overkill. Also, I wouldn't reccomend using a microSD card for the BBS. You can set up the RPi is boot off of and use USB. My BBS RPi doesn't even have a microSD card in it. SD cards will wear out eventually. Don't get a cheap SD card, either.
    Make regular backups as you go along. It's inevitiable that at some point while loading things onto your Pi, you're going to screw something up.

    https://github.com/lzkelley/bkup_rpimage

    That's a good place for a backup script. I use it regularly.

    RPI-Monitor is a good thing to have, it runs in the background, and you can access it from any web browser on your network to see stats like temperature, CPU usage, storage capacity, etc. It stores a lot of that so you can see trends.

    |09─────═════|11» |14Morgul! |11«|09═════─────

    /-------------------------------------------------------------\
    | The Trading Post [SOUTH] BBS - Telnet: ttps.dyndns.org:2323 |
    | WWIVNet - Fidonet - StarNet - FSXNet - SFNet |
    | HobbyNet - PiNet | \-------------------------------------------------------------/


    --- WWIV 5.7.1.0001
    * Origin: ** The Trading Post [SOUTH] BBS -=- Columbia, SC ** (21:1/207)
  • From Warpslide@21:3/110 to gcubebuddy on Fri Apr 30 16:59:25 2021
    *** Quoting gcubebuddy from a message to All ***

    Ok so today i bit the RPi4 bullet and ordered a Cana kit and a 1 tb microSD card off amazon.

    Awesome, congrats!

    You may want to watch some videos on USB booting from a HD or SSD, better reliability and a surprising speed boost as well.

    Does anyone have any tipson how to build it? or any "gotchas" to
    watch out for?

    sudo apt install zip unzip

    That seems to catch a lot of people, including me when I was running off of a Pi.


    Jay

    ... Heavy, adj.: Seduced by the chocolate side of the force

    --- Telegard v3.09.g2-sp4/mL
    * Origin: Northern Realms | 289-424-5180 | bbs.nrbbs.net (21:3/110)
  • From Spectre@21:3/101 to Morgul on Sat May 1 10:07:00 2021
    8 GB is probably overkill. Also, I wouldn't reccomend using a microSD card for the BBS. You can set up the RPi is boot off of and use USB. My

    I kinda second this notion. I have most of my pi gear working on 512Gb to ì2Tb sd cards. But have notoriously had trouble with SD cards as the boot ìdevice. They seem to become periodically corrupt during power failures. On ìthe flip side, once I realised what was going on it was easy enough to create ìan iso of the system and just copy it back when there were problems.

    Spec


    *** THE READER V4.50 [freeware]
    --- SuperBBS v1.17-3 (Eval)
    * Origin: Scrawled in haste at The Lower Planes (21:3/101)
  • From gcubebuddy@21:4/129 to Morgul on Sat May 1 02:14:24 2021
    8 GB is probably overkill. Also, I wouldn't reccomend using a
    microSD Mo> card for the BBS. You can set up the RPi is boot off of and use USB. Mo> My BBS RPi doesn't even have a microSD card in it. SD cards will wear Mo> out eventually. Don't get a cheap SD card, either.
    Make regular backups as you go along. It's inevitiable that at some
    point while loading things onto your Pi, you're going to screw something up.

    ya i was also thinking about getting an M2 drive as that is def able to be
    used as an OS disk and also for storage of the BBS stuff... that way if something were to happen to the MicroSD, then the usb or what ever is used to connect it can just be removed after it is unmounted or powered off.
    for the OS i was going to try Ubuntu server 20.04 LTS for RPi.

    Thanks
    - Gamecube Buddy

    telnet --<{bbs.hive32.com:23333}>--

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: Hive32 (21:4/129)
  • From gcubebuddy@21:4/129 to Warpslide on Sat May 1 02:24:14 2021
    You may want to watch some videos on USB booting from a HD or SSD,
    better reliability and a surprising speed boost as well.
    sudo apt install zip unzip
    That seems to catch a lot of people, including me when I was running off of a Pi.

    awesome thanks. ya i was just mentioning in another echo, i was thinking
    about getting an M2 disk as they seem pretty solid and have a storage life of up to 300 years. i am hoping to fit it all into a external US Robotics modem.

    Thanks
    - Gamecube Buddy

    telnet --<{bbs.hive32.com:23333}>--

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: Hive32 (21:4/129)
  • From Oli@21:3/102 to Morgul on Sat May 1 09:37:32 2021
    Morgul wrote (2021-04-30):
    8 GB is probably overkill.

    It can be used as disk cache and prevents swapping to disk ...

    Also, I wouldn't reccomend using a microSD
    card for the BBS. You can set up the RPi is boot off of and use USB. My BBS RPi doesn't even have a microSD card in it. SD cards will wear out eventually.

    My SD card still works fine after several hundred written and deleted TV show episodes. I'm using an f2fs filesystem mounted with the discard option (TRIM).

    If you use an USB SSD make sure that it has a controller that supports the TRIM command. Or your SSD will wear out eventually (later than sooner) and performance will suffer too at some point.

    Don't get a cheap SD card, either.

    True. But even good SD cards are not expensive anymore. A 32 GB SanDisk High Endurance costs less than 10€.

    ---
    * Origin: . (21:3/102)
  • From Oli@21:3/102 to gcubebuddy on Sat May 1 11:42:20 2021
    gcubebuddy wrote (2021-05-01):

    i am hoping to fit it all into a external US Robotics modem.

    Cool. How hard would it be to use the LEDs with the Raspi ;)

    ---
    * Origin: . (21:3/102)
  • From paulie420@21:2/150 to gcubebuddy on Sat May 1 10:17:15 2021
    Ok so today i bit the RPi4 bullet and ordered a Cana kit and a 1 tb microSD card off amazon. hopefully should be here this next week. i am also expecting the US Robotics external modem to show up as well. so i will have the complete kit to start building my RPi BBS box. Does anyone have any tips on how to build it? or any "gotchas" to watch out for?

    Awesome, gcube. Personally, I love the RPi4 platform for running a BBS.

    I run 2o on one, so do know that you can reach out to me for any issues you might hit - theres a lot of differences when running on the ARM chips, but nothing that I haven't been able to overcome.

    Just recently I, with others help!, have figured out local door games on the Pi/DOSBox... I can send you the data/info if you need.

    You can get a lot of help on fsxNet, there was always someone willing to help me here. :P The Underground Discord has a nice mystic-sysops room; you could find the address on my BBS login sequence.

    Good choice, IMO - and you can do so much more with the RPi... get ready to order more of them. :P I do tons of projects with many different Pi's. Again, don't hesitate to hit me up any time to chat about them.



    |07p|15AULIE|1142|07o
    |08.........

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/04/20 (Raspberry Pi/32)
    * Origin: 2o fOr beeRS bbs>>>20ForBeers.com:1337 (21:2/150)
  • From paulie420@21:2/150 to gcubebuddy on Sat May 1 10:23:34 2021
    ya i was also thinking about getting an M2 drive as that is def able to
    be used as an OS disk and also for storage of the BBS stuff... that way
    if something were to happen to the MicroSD, then the usb or what ever is used to connect it can just be removed after it is unmounted or powered off. for the OS i was going to try Ubuntu server 20.04 LTS for RPi.

    Yea, I don't even use an SDCard anymore - I boot directly to an SSD HDD. Be sure to update the BIOS/EEPROM to be able to boot from USB.

    Also, I ran Ubuntu Server for a while when running Synchronet. And it does have its benefits... its lightweight and can be built up exactly how you like it. However, I invite you to try Raspberry Pi OS. It DOES have a GUI, but... since you ordered the 8GB version you'd completely be able to run all aspects of a BBS while using it, and... the Pi just loves it. Theres so much community support that I feel comes with RPi OS... its what I run and... its worth a look.

    I help several Pi sysOps (and get help) using VNC... and its baked into RPi OS really nicely. Anyway, I understand that experienced *nix ops might be able to build up a server OS nicely... but a lot comes WITH RPi OS. Thats all. :P



    |07p|15AULIE|1142|07o
    |08.........

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/04/20 (Raspberry Pi/32)
    * Origin: 2o fOr beeRS bbs>>>20ForBeers.com:1337 (21:2/150)
  • From Morgul@21:1/207 to Oli on Sat May 1 21:09:55 2021
    BY: Oli(21:3/102)


    |11O|09> |10Cool. How hard would it be to use the LEDs with the Raspi ;)|07

    Not hard at all. I've written a Python script to use the LEDS to mimic connections as if it was an incoming call, or a caller was on line, or it's waiting for call. All you have to do is hook the LEDs up tot he Pi and run the script.


    /-------------------------------------------------------------\
    | The Trading Post [SOUTH] BBS - Telnet: ttps.dyndns.org:2323 |
    | WWIVNet - Fidonet - StarNet - FSXNet - SFNet |
    | HobbyNet - PiNet | \-------------------------------------------------------------/


    --- WWIV 5.7.1.0001
    * Origin: ** The Trading Post [SOUTH] BBS -=- Columbia, SC ** (21:1/207)
  • From Oli@21:3/102 to Morgul on Sun May 2 09:38:40 2021
    Morgul wrote (2021-05-01):

    BY: Oli(21:3/102)


    |11O|09>> |10Cool. How hard would it be to use the LEDs with the Raspi
    ;)|07

    Not hard at all. I've written a Python script to use the LEDS to mimic connections as if it was an incoming call, or a caller was on line, or
    it's waiting for call. All you have to do is hook the LEDs up tot he Pi and run the script.

    I wish I've kept my old modems ... :)

    ---
    * Origin: . (21:3/102)
  • From Arelor@21:2/138 to Warpslide on Mon May 3 05:32:24 2021
    Re: Re: RPi4 x8 gig ram
    By: Warpslide to gcubebuddy on Fri Apr 30 2021 04:59 pm


    You may want to watch some videos on USB booting from a HD or SSD, better reliability and a surprising speed boost as well.


    I have found the PiCore Linux distribution works well as an alternative. It is a distribution that loads itself to the RAM of the Pi. The SD card is read only when the system is booted, and then left alone because everything the OS needs is stored in RAM. Data is only saved to the SD card when the OS is instructed to do so, so you get nearly no SD I/O when using PiCore.

    --
    gopher://gopher.richardfalken.com/1/richardfalken
    --- SBBSecho 3.14-Linux
    * Origin: Palantir * palantirbbs.ddns.net * Pensacola, FL * (21:2/138)
  • From Morgul@21:1/207 to Arelor on Mon May 3 07:23:13 2021
    BY: Arelor(21:2/138)


    |11A|09> |10is stored in RAM. Data is only saved to the SD card when the OS is|07
    |11A|09> |10instructed|07
    |11A|09> |10to do so, so you get nearly no SD I/O when using PiCore.|07

    That seems to be a little dangerous to me. If you have a power loss, wouldn't you loose most everything?
    /-------------------------------------------------------------\
    | The Trading Post [SOUTH] BBS - Telnet: ttps.dyndns.org:2323 |
    | WWIVNet - Fidonet - StarNet - FSXNet - SFNet |
    | HobbyNet - PiNet | \-------------------------------------------------------------/


    --- WWIV 5.7.1.0001
    * Origin: ** The Trading Post [SOUTH] BBS -=- Columbia, SC ** (21:1/207)
  • From apam@21:1/182 to Morgul on Mon May 3 21:49:03 2021
    That seems to be a little dangerous to me. If you have a power loss, wouldn't you loose most everything?

    I imagine it's just the system stored in memory, your documents etc you
    would save onto external media or network drive.

    Andrew

    --
    |03Andrew Pamment |08(|11apam|08)
    |13Happy|10Land |14v2.0|08!|07


    --- Talisman v0.20-dev (Linux/x86_64)
    * Origin: HappyLand v2.0 - telnet://happylandbbs.com:11892/ (21:1/182)
  • From Arelor@21:2/138 to Morgul on Tue May 4 03:12:30 2021
    Re: Re: RPi4 x8 gig ram
    By: Morgul to Arelor on Mon May 03 2021 07:23 am


    That seems to be a little dangerous to me. If you have a power loss, wouldn you loose most everything?

    It depends.

    The setup is designed to run stateless systems. If you need something written to disk, you can commit it to disk, but that defeats the purpose.

    This approach works well for things such as static websites, dns servers, ntp servers and the like. You build the operating system with the configuration already backed in. Everytime you boot it up, everything will be loaded to RAM and run from there. If the there is a blackout you just reboot. There is no chance of filesystem corruption.

    If I was running a BBS from a system like this one, I would use a cronjob to commit the data to a real filesystem once per day. Bonus points because if the disk gets botched, you can replace it while the OS is still running. No downtimes.


    --
    gopher://gopher.richardfalken.com/1/richardfalken
    --- SBBSecho 3.14-Linux
    * Origin: Palantir * palantirbbs.ddns.net * Pensacola, FL * (21:2/138)
  • From gcubebuddy@21:4/129 to Oli on Wed May 5 12:25:31 2021
    Cool. How hard would it be to use the LEDs with the Raspi ;)

    Ya i am kind of wondering about that too. it would probably take a daughter board with the LEDs, and some extra daemon running that would make the lights blink.... im guessing that there is a library for that...

    Thanks
    - Gamecube Buddy

    telnet --<{bbs.hive32.com:23333}>--

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: Hive32 (21:4/129)
  • From gcubebuddy@21:4/129 to paulie420 on Wed May 5 16:33:18 2021
    Awesome, gcube. Personally, I love the RPi4 platform for running a BBS.
    I run 2o on one, so do know that you can reach out to me for any issues you might hit - theres a lot of differences when running on the ARM
    chips, but nothing that I haven't been able to overcome.
    Just recently I, with others help!, have figured out local door games on the Pi/DOSBox... I can send you the data/info if you need.
    You can get a lot of help on fsxNet, there was always someone willing to help me here. :P The Underground Discord has a nice mystic-sysops room; you could find the address on my BBS login sequence.
    Good choice, IMO - and you can do so much more with the RPi... get ready to order more of them. :P I do tons of projects with many different
    Pi's. Again, don't hesitate to hit me up any time to chat about them. pAULIE42o

    Awesome! thanks for the advice. ya i would love to see the documentation on
    how to set up doors/dosbox for RPi4.

    ya i actually have a few projects in the works with RPis and Arduinos.
    1) RPi4 + US Robotics shell = Hive32 BBS new home. I have the US Robotics
    modem, i just havent gotten around to setting it up yet. i am going to
    put ubuntu server 20.04 LTS for the OS. that way i know it will be pretty
    stable. the good thing about RPis is they are low power requirements. i
    wish i could switch over my PLEX server to a RPi4 8Gb. however i dont
    think it has the processing power to transcode video and stream it...

    2) Building a 1970s or 1980s style MS Basic computer (like Tandy TRS-80 / C64)
    I am basiclly building it from scratch with arduino boards. However i
    might change it over to the RPi3a+ board, as its multicore, and has about
    512 megs of ram, and microSD storage. plus it has video / audio built in.
    i also think it might be cheaper to do it this way rather than buy
    seperate arduino boards....

    3) RPi3a+ Commodore64 - infact i am currently using one for my BMC64 (Bare
    metal Commodore64 hypervisor project) basiclly they have taken the VICE
    C64 emulator and made it to where you can just install the project on a SD
    card and put in the C64, vic-20, c128, Commodore PET, and other firmwares,
    and it will run like its a native OS. the only thing with this project
    though, is its still only 8-bit, and can only address the 64k of ram. what
    i would like to see is a complete re-write of the kernel and basic interp
    to use commodore type language - which would be microsoft basic, which
    has been opensourced apparently. i downloaded it just recently... I would
    like to set it up with a TCP/IP stack so it can telnet to BBS's.

    thanks for all the help too with my theme building. i will need to add the
    area for user settings still.

    Thanks
    - Gamecube Buddy

    telnet --<{bbs.hive32.com:23333}>--

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: Hive32 (21:4/129)
  • From gcubebuddy@21:4/129 to paulie420 on Wed May 5 16:42:09 2021
    it. However, I invite you to try Raspberry Pi OS. It DOES have a GUI, but... since you ordered the 8GB version you'd completely be able to run all aspects of a BBS while using it, and... the Pi just loves it. Theres so much community support that I feel comes with RPi OS... its what I
    run and... its worth a look.

    Ya i have actually been tinkering with a Raspberry Pi OS x86 on a VM, to
    kind of see what all it has. i have tinkered with the OS to see what it has
    in it. i havent had a change to check it out too deeply, but will get around
    to it lol. i was thinking too about getting an LED daughter board for the
    RPi4 to add to the US Robotics modem case, to give it some flashy lights to
    see it working...

    Thanks
    - Gamecube Buddy

    telnet --<{bbs.hive32.com:23333}>--

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: Hive32 (21:4/129)
  • From gcubebuddy@21:4/129 to paulie420 on Wed May 5 16:52:56 2021
    Yea, I don't even use an SDCard anymore - I boot directly to an SSD HDD. Be sure to update the BIOS/EEPROM to be able to boot from USB.

    ya i was thinking about getting an external M2 drive, as they look like the
    use alot less power, and also use a USB connection.

    i do have a question, where do i fnd hte bios update for my RPi4 to allow it
    to boot from USB?

    Thanks
    - Gamecube Buddy

    telnet --<{bbs.hive32.com:23333}>--

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: Hive32 (21:4/129)
  • From gcubebuddy@21:4/129 to Oli on Wed May 5 18:46:22 2021
    I wish I've kept my old modems ... :)

    i bought my US Robotics 56k off ebay for like $15. back in the 90s those were like $260 1990s dollars lol.

    Thanks
    - Gamecube Buddy

    telnet --<{bbs.hive32.com:23333}>--

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: Hive32 (21:4/129)
  • From Morgul@21:1/207 to Gcubebuddy on Wed May 5 14:55:10 2021
    BY: gcubebuddy(21:4/129)


    |11g|09> |10to it lol. i was thinking too about getting an LED daughter board for|07
    |11g|09> |10the|07
    |11g|09> |10RPi4 to add to the US Robotics modem case, to give it some flashy lights|07
    |11g|09> |10to|07
    |11g|09> |10see it working... |07
    |11g|09> |07
    I'm creating my own daughterbord for the LEDs. I wasn't sure how old the LEDs were in the modem I had, but I was able to find the identical LEDs online and ordered a fresh batch of them.

    |09─────═════|11» |14Morgul! |11«|09═════─────

    /-------------------------------------------------------------\
    | The Trading Post [SOUTH] BBS - Telnet: ttps.dyndns.org:2323 |
    | WWIVNet - Fidonet - StarNet - FSXNet - SFNet |
    | HobbyNet - PiNet | \-------------------------------------------------------------/


    --- WWIV 5.7.1.0001
    * Origin: ** The Trading Post [SOUTH] BBS -=- Columbia, SC ** (21:1/207)
  • From Morgul@21:1/207 to Gcubebuddy on Wed May 5 14:56:18 2021
    BY: gcubebuddy(21:4/129)


    |11g|09> |10i do have a question, where do i fnd hte bios update for my RPi4 to|07
    |11g|09> |10allow it|07
    |11g|09> |10to boot from USB? |07
    |11g|09> |07
    https://www.tomshardware.com/how-to/boot-raspberry-pi-4-usb

    Thats a good link that walks you through it.

    |09─────═════|11» |14Morgul! |11«|09═════─────

    /-------------------------------------------------------------\
    | The Trading Post [SOUTH] BBS - Telnet: ttps.dyndns.org:2323 |
    | WWIVNet - Fidonet - StarNet - FSXNet - SFNet |
    | HobbyNet - PiNet | \-------------------------------------------------------------/


    --- WWIV 5.7.1.0001
    * Origin: ** The Trading Post [SOUTH] BBS -=- Columbia, SC ** (21:1/207)
  • From Oli@21:3/102 to gcubebuddy on Thu May 6 08:55:01 2021
    gcubebuddy wrote (2021-05-05):

    3) RPi3a+ Commodore64 - infact i am currently using one for my BMC64
    (Bare metal Commodore64 hypervisor project) basiclly they have taken the VICE C64 emulator and made it to where you can just install the project
    on a SD card and put in the C64, vic-20, c128, Commodore PET, and other firmwares, and it will run like its a native OS. the only thing with this project though, is its still only 8-bit, and can only address the 64k of ram. what i would like to see is a complete re-write of the kernel and basic interp to use commodore type language

    You might be interested in the Mega65 project.

    https://github.com/MEGA65

    Has even an emulator
    https://github.com/MEGA65/xemu

    I haven't tried it though (but I know a guy who owns a C65)

    * Origin: . (21:3/102)
  • From gcubebuddy@21:4/129 to Morgul on Thu May 6 12:25:01 2021
    I'm creating my own daughterbord for the LEDs. I wasn't sure how old
    the LEDs were in the modem I had, but I was able to find the identical LEDs online and ordered a fresh batch of them.

    wow awesome!

    Thanks
    - Gamecube Buddy

    telnet --<{bbs.hive32.com:23333}>--

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: Hive32 (21:4/129)
  • From gcubebuddy@21:4/129 to Morgul on Thu May 6 12:25:37 2021
    https://www.tomshardware.com/how-to/boot-raspberry-pi-4-usb
    Thats a good link that walks you through it.

    awesome! thanks once again.

    Thanks
    - Gamecube Buddy

    telnet --<{bbs.hive32.com:23333}>--

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: Hive32 (21:4/129)
  • From gcubebuddy@21:4/129 to Oli on Thu May 6 13:00:54 2021
    You might be interested in the Mega65 project.
    https://github.com/MEGA65
    Has even an emulator
    https://github.com/MEGA65/xemu
    I haven't tried it though (but I know a guy who owns a C65)
    * Origin: . (21:3/102)

    wow interesting, i will have to check that out...
    ya i was thinking since alot of people still have hobby interests in the C64, and no one really owns the license to the kernel anymore, the opensource community should start reverse engineering it, and bulding a work-alike
    version of the MS basic interp, which has also been release as opensource
    code, along with the first 3 versions of MS-Dos.

    Thanks
    - Gamecube Buddy

    telnet --<{bbs.hive32.com:23333}>--

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: Hive32 (21:4/129)
  • From gcubebuddy@21:4/129 to Oli on Thu May 6 13:49:27 2021
    You might be interested in the Mega65 project.
    https://github.com/MEGA65
    Has even an emulator
    https://github.com/MEGA65/xemu
    I haven't tried it though (but I know a guy who owns a C65)

    i went to the site and downloaded the source code. from a breif look at the site, it looks like they are expanding the mem level which was one of the things i was wanting to have addressed. i will need to read over it more though... if this is a full rewrite, then i will use this for the OS for my "built from scratch" 1970s basic computer. :-) thanks for the info on this.
    i am wondering if the kernel and basic interpertor will work with something like the BMC64 project...

    Thanks
    - Gamecube Buddy

    telnet --<{bbs.hive32.com:23333}>--

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: Hive32 (21:4/129)
  • From gcubebuddy@21:4/129 to paulie420 on Thu May 6 16:02:00 2021
    Yea, I don't even use an SDCard anymore - I boot directly to an SSD HDD. Be sure to update the BIOS/EEPROM to be able to boot from USB.
    Also, I ran Ubuntu Server for a while when running Synchronet. And it
    does have
    its benefits... its lightweight and can be built up exactly how you like it. However, I invite you to try Raspberry Pi OS. It DOES have a GUI, but... since you ordered the 8GB version you'd completely be able to run all aspects of a BBS while using it, and... the Pi just loves it. Theres so much community support that I feel comes with RPi OS... its what I
    run and... its worth a look.

    Today i just ordered a 500gb M.2 NVRam drive and an external usb case for it, to plug into the RPi4. apparently the M.2 NVRam has a 400 + year lifespan on the drive... and that should have way more than enough space to have Hive32 + all the 60 gigs in the download area.
    it might not fit into the modem with the new drive... however i also have a project box that looks like the old Altirus 8800 computer. however way
    smaller. i can put the RPi4 into that. also that would let me use the modem
    for a dialup line as well... :-)

    i was going to use the metal project box for building a 1970s basic computer, with either arduino boards or with the RPi3a+.

    Thanks
    - Gamecube Buddy

    telnet --<{bbs.hive32.com:23333}>--

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: Hive32 (21:4/129)
  • From paulie420@21:2/150 to gcubebuddy on Sat May 8 17:28:52 2021
    Yea, I don't even use an SDCard anymore - I boot directly to an SSD H Be sure to update the BIOS/EEPROM to be able to boot from USB.

    ya i was thinking about getting an external M2 drive, as they look like the use alot less power, and also use a USB connection.

    i do have a question, where do i fnd hte bios update for my RPi4 to
    allow it to boot from USB?

    you can type sudo raspi-config and fine an option in there to update the BIOS/eeprom. Sorry, my fsxNet went offline for a few days so... I missed all of these messages. Trying to make sure its back up now.

    Eek.



    |07p|15AULIE|1142|07o
    |08.........

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/04/20 (Raspberry Pi/32)
    * Origin: 2o fOr beeRS bbs>>>20ForBeers.com:1337 (21:2/150)
  • From paulie420@21:2/150 to Arelor on Mon May 10 04:57:10 2021
    I have found the PiCore Linux distribution works well as an alternative. It is a distribution that loads itself to the RAM of the Pi. The SD card is read only when the system is booted, and then left alone because everything the OS needs is stored in RAM. Data is only saved to the SD card when the OS is instructed to do so, so you get nearly no SD I/O
    when using PiCore.

    This is neat; I went ahead and read some of the docs. Is it mainly for using as a media player? Interesting; I do a lot of Pi stuff and hadn't heard of this yet. (I don't use Pi's yet for media/amp/DAC.)

    But, I want to. I have a couple antique consoles (record players) that I want to marry with current tech. The ones I have, from the 1950s, have amplifiers... so I [think I] have to decide whether I'm going to use their amplification [which might sound nice, to me...] or doso with the Pi.

    Anyway, this distro looks interesting and... am I reading it right - that this would be a good application for it?

    Thanks for posting.



    |07p|15AULIE|1142|07o
    |08.........

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/05/03 (Raspberry Pi/32)
    * Origin: 2o fOr beeRS bbs>>>20ForBeers.com:1337 (21:2/150)
  • From Arelor@21:2/138 to paulie420 on Mon May 10 09:37:38 2021
    Re: Re: RPi4 x8 gig ram
    By: paulie420 to Arelor on Mon May 10 2021 04:57 am

    I have found the PiCore Linux distribution works well as an alternative It is a distribution that loads itself to the RAM of the Pi. The SD car is read only when the system is booted, and then left alone because everything the OS needs is stored in RAM. Data is only saved to the SD card when the OS is instructed to do so, so you get nearly no SD I/O when using PiCore.

    This is neat; I went ahead and read some of the docs. Is it mainly for using a media player? Interesting; I do a lot of Pi stuff and hadn't heard of this yet. (I don't use Pi's yet for media/amp/DAC.)


    I donñ t know what people is using it for in the wild, but playing media sounds a task for which it could perform quite well. I wonder if PiCore has a player capable of leveraging the hardware decoder in the PI. If that is the case, I can imagine the Pi attached to a TV and playing files stored on a NFS server. An attached hard drive would also work.

    There are dedicated distributions for playing media and doing the home theatre dance on a Pi. Maybe those are also worth checking.

    --
    gopher://gopher.richardfalken.com/1/richardfalken
    --- SBBSecho 3.14-Linux
    * Origin: Palantir * palantirbbs.ddns.net * Pensacola, FL * (21:2/138)
  • From paulie420@21:2/150 to Arelor on Mon May 10 17:25:55 2021
    I donñ t know what people is using it for in the wild, but playing media sounds a task for which it could perform quite well. I wonder if PiCore has a player capable of leveraging the hardware decoder in the PI. If
    that is the case, I can imagine the Pi attached to a TV and playing
    files stored on a NFS server. An attached hard drive would also work.

    There are dedicated distributions for playing media and doing the home theatre dance on a Pi. Maybe those are also worth checking.


    Its called the PiCorePlayer; the distro comes in three - well, you can use it in three ways. Playback, Playback and Server or Playback, server & one other function - at any rate... from what I read its for using with a DAC Pi Hat for digital audio out... and it CAN be used with several PiCore devices to make a home network of audio sources - like a Sonos system, minus the Sonos... self hosted and amplified speakers.

    I ... think. :P But thanks for mentioning it as I had no idea about what they were before yesterday.



    |07p|15AULIE|1142|07o
    |08.........

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/05/03 (Raspberry Pi/32)
    * Origin: 2o fOr beeRS bbs>>>20ForBeers.com:1337 (21:2/150)
  • From gcubebuddy@21:4/129 to paulie420 on Wed May 12 12:28:45 2021
    you can type sudo raspi-config and fine an option in there to update the BIOS/eeprom. Sorry, my fsxNet went offline for a few days so... I missed all of
    these messages. Trying to make sure its back up now.

    Oh ok cool thanks. ya i need to set aside some time to get that project started. i got a 500 gig M.2 nvram drive an external case that i can attach
    to the usb3 channel. that way i can put ubuntu server on it, and it *should*
    be stable. I also need to sit down and write out the tutorial for making
    mystic themes.

    Thanks
    - Gamecube Buddy

    telnet --<{bbs.hive32.com:23333}>--

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: Hive32 (21:4/129)
  • From Paradigms Shifting@21:1/101 to gcubebuddy on Tue Apr 19 12:47:23 2022
    On 30 Apr 2021 at 05:54p, gcubebuddy pondered and said...

    Ok so today i bit the RPi4 bullet and ordered a Cana kit and a 1 tb microSD card off amazon. hopefully should be here this next week. i am also expecting the US Robotics external modem to show up as well. so i will have the complete kit to start building my RPi BBS box. Does anyone have any tips on how to build it? or any "gotchas" to watch out for?


    I just ordered an RPi4 x2GB RAM. Not sure if I'll ever put a BBS on it or not, but just want to mess with it and see what I can get it to do, in general. Always wanted to mess with one of these, just never really got around to it until now.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/12/24 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: Agency BBS | Dunedin, New Zealand | agency.bbs.nz (21:1/101)
  • From McDoob@21:4/135 to Paradigms Shifting on Tue Apr 19 08:55:13 2022
    I just ordered an RPi4 x2GB RAM. Not sure if I'll ever put a BBS on it
    or not, but just want to mess with it and see what I can get it to do,
    in general. Always wanted to mess with one of these, just never really
    got around to it until now.

    It's definitely possible to do. PiBBS is running without trouble on a 3B+, so the Pi4 should have no problem at all.

    McDoob
    SysOp, PiBBS
    pibbs.sytes.net

    ... There are two types of people; those who finish what they start and

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/12/24 (Raspberry Pi/32)
    * Origin: PiBBS (21:4/135)