• Using retro hardware to access other BBS systems...

    From dflorey@21:1/226 to All on Sun Aug 1 20:18:39 2021
    Hey all

    Just curious, are there members here who regularly or even semi-regularly use authentic retro hardware systems (so not emulated) to login to other BBS systems - whether that be a BBS you host not on the same retro machine or
    onto other BBS systems out in the wild?

    If so, what sort of systems do you typically do this on?
    What software are you using to access said BBS systems?
    And what connectivity bridge are you using to get the retro system onto a typical TCP/IP network (if applicable)?

    I have a couple of systems here that I want to mess with more regularly, and not just for the purpose of accessing BBS systems, but recently I fired up
    one of my Compaq Portables (the 386 plasma version), and used Telnet in
    Windows 3.1 to access my BBS - I did this via a serial to WiFi modem device. The functionality was as expected, but the experience wasn't great - mainly
    due to a lack of suitable fonts or translation of the ANSI characters - I
    need to work on this one a bit more...

    I have a few different systems I want to try out in the near future.

    I did try to download Kermit from the original source last week, and the
    links are now dead. I managed to get a version from elsewhere, yet to try it out.

    Thanks guys...!

    |14Dave!
    |05(|13dflorey|05)
    |13Retro16 BBS |05--> |14bbs.retro16.com |05(|13WIP|05)
    |07All your base are belong to us!

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Windows/32)
    * Origin: Retro16 BBS (21:1/226)
  • From deon@21:2/116 to dflorey on Sun Aug 1 21:33:49 2021
    Re: Using retro hardware to access other BBS systems...
    By: dflorey to All on Sun Aug 01 2021 08:18 pm

    Howdy,

    Just curious, are there members here who regularly or even semi-regularly use authentic retro hardware systems (so not emulated) to
    login to other BBS systems - whether that be a BBS you host not on the same retro machine or
    onto other BBS systems out in the wild?

    If so, what sort of systems do you typically do this on?
    What software are you using to access said BBS systems?
    And what connectivity bridge are you using to get the retro system onto a typical TCP/IP network (if applicable)?

    Well, I've been playing with retro system on DOS, mainly because I've been writing a new mailer to work with them.

    I've tested my new mailer with Portal of Power, FrontDoor (as well as IFCICO/QICO) and was transferring mail without problems. I couldnt get BinklyTerm responding (although I admit I didnt spent too much time trying. (I was using tcpser to bridge serial with TCP/IP.)

    I also did try with D'Bridge, but its EMSI implementation is slightly different to those that I've already worked with) requiring more thought to get it working. (I understand the difference its just need to find the time (implementing other features) and enthusiasm to work on it.)

    One of the challenges with legacy systems, serial and TCP/IP, is that the TCP/IP stack is too fast (and has a large send buffer), which results in the sender saying "I'm finished, waiting for an ACK", and the receiver still pulling stuff off the wire. Eventually the sender "times out" and "hang's up" before the receiver says "I got it".

    With me writing my new mailer, I can control those timeouts better and wait longer for the other end to send the ACK. My new mailer also supports BINKP and is a little different to traditional mailer/tosser's - and when I have something more functional to show, I'll share more information on it (and hopefully get some testers to break it too).

    ...δεσ∩

    ... Never invest your money in anything that eats or needs painting.
    --- SBBSecho 3.14-Linux
    * Origin: I'm playing with ANSI+videotex - wanna play too? (21:2/116)
  • From Bucko@21:4/131 to dflorey on Sun Aug 1 07:25:12 2021
    On 01 Aug 2021, dflorey said the following...

    Hey all

    Just curious, are there members here who regularly or even
    semi-regularly use authentic retro hardware systems (so not emulated) to login to other BBS systems - whether that be a BBS you host not on the same retro machine or onto other BBS systems out in the wild?


    I was using a Commodore 64 to run one of my BBS' for well over a year until I put it in emulation to save the hardware. I used a C64 with Lt Kernal HD
    which was hooked up via a null modem cable with pin 6 removed to a PC which
    ran BBS Server v1.4 by Leif Bloomquist. The software I ran was Image BBS v3.0 (which I am one of the contributors to).. There are several Image BBS' which run on Real Retro computers in the US and I am sure abroad.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Windows/32)
    * Origin: The Wrong Number Family Of BBS' - Wrong Number ][ (21:4/131)
  • From Dr. What@21:1/194 to DFLOREY on Sun Aug 1 10:37:00 2021
    Quoting Dflorey to All <=-

    Just curious, are there members here who regularly or even
    semi-regularly use authentic retro hardware systems (so not emulated)
    to login to other BBS systems - whether that be a BBS you host not on
    the same retro machine or onto other BBS systems out in the wild?

    I enjoy using my vintage stuff to call most of the BBSs that I like to
    call. I mostly use modern hardware to call BBSs that I down QWK packet
    from, though.

    If so, what sort of systems do you typically do this on?

    Lately, my Compaq Portable 386. It's powerful enough to run Blue Wave
    for an offline mail reader.

    But I also use my C-64, Kaypro 4/83, Kaypro "1" (actually a 2/84 in the
    "1" case), and TRS-80 4P (this one I went the extra step of creating
    auto-login scripts too). I have things set up on my Tandy 1100FD and
    1400LT but I don't use them as often.

    What software are you using to access said BBS systems?

    C-64 = Strike Term
    Kaypros = Fastterm
    TRS-80 = FastTerm II
    Compaq, Tandys = Commo

    And what connectivity bridge are you using to get the retro system
    onto a typical TCP/IP network (if applicable)?

    All Wifi modems connected to the serial (or user for the C-64) port.

    I did try to download Kermit from the original source last week, and
    the links are now dead. I managed to get a version from elsewhere, yet
    to try it out.

    I mainly use Kermit to transfer files to/from my Kaypros. The batch
    transfer feature works really nice for that.


    ... This tagline is SHAREWARE! To register, send me $10
    ___ Blue Wave/386 v2.30
    --- SBBSecho 3.14-Win32
    * Origin: Diamond Mine Online BBS 21:1/194 bbs.dmine.net:24 (21:1/194)
  • From paulie420@21:2/150 to dflorey on Sun Aug 1 09:59:22 2021
    Just curious, are there members here who regularly or even semi-regularly use authentic retro hardware systems (so not emulated) login to other BBS systems - whether that be a BBS you host not on th same retro machine or onto other BBS systems out in the wild?


    I was using a Commodore 64 to run one of my BBS' for well over a year until I put it in emulation to save the hardware. I used a C64 with Lt Kernal HD which was hooked up via a null modem cable with pin 6 removed
    to a PC which ran BBS Server v1.4 by Leif Bloomquist. The software I ran was Image BBS v3.0 (which I am one of the contributors to).. There are several Image BBS' which run on Real Retro computers in the US and I am sure abroad.

    While I don't run a C= BBS, I'm quickly becoming more interested in the BBS softwares that are popular in the C= world... also, when I do goto C= BBSes I personally like doing so on correct hardware. I use a C=128 in 40column mode and have been working to get an 80column solution as Image 3.0 BBS Software has a great 80column mode.

    When rocking on Commodore sites, I enjoy using Commodore hardware. Heres to hoping I come up with an 80column solution that works well in the semi-near future... with retro, I enjoy coming back to the project as I can and just knowing that I'm preserving hardware 'forever'.

    One side-project I've been working on is re-foaming a Pelican iM2700 to hold my full C=128 setup and all related hardware. I want to make sure the system I have remains intact and working for years to come...



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

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/07/28 (Raspberry Pi/32)
    * Origin: 2o fOr beeRS bbs>>>20ForBeers.com:1337 (21:2/150)
  • From Ogg@21:4/106.21 to paulie420 on Sun Aug 1 21:44:00 2021
    Hello paulie420!

    ** On Sunday 01.08.21 - 09:59, paulie420 wrote to dflorey:

    One side-project I've been working on is re-foaming a
    Pelican iM2700 to hold my full C=128 setup and all related
    hardware. I want to make sure the system I have remains
    intact and working for years to come...

    That looks like an impressive case. I like the ads with the
    grizzly, gorilla, and one with a giant tire resting on the top.

    That case is not built to make compromises!



    --- OpenXP 5.0.50
    * Origin: (} Pointy McPointFace (21:4/106.21)
  • From dflorey@21:1/226 to deon on Mon Aug 2 15:32:03 2021
    Very interesting!

    TCPSER - as in a device that interfaces between serial port and TCP/IP
    network?

    Love to see more of your work in the future...

    |14Dave!
    |05(|13dflorey|05)
    |13Retro16 BBS |05--> |14bbs.retro16.com |05(|13WIP|05)
    |07All your base are belong to us!

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Windows/32)
    * Origin: Retro16 BBS (21:1/226)
  • From dflorey@21:1/226 to paulie420 on Mon Aug 2 15:37:50 2021
    Love it, I have a C128D (missing keyboard unfortunately)...
    It was gifted to me in terrible condition a few years back.

    Two weeks ago, I opened it up to the horror of leaky caps.

    I've cleaned the board enough to get a good look at it - I believe its salvageable, however, the chip that interfaces the keyboard has a couple of pins that rusted away...

    I've ordered in many spare caps as I plan to re-cap the board in a few weeks and see what happens...

    PSU seems to be ok, no load the 5V and 9V rails seem a little high...
    Just gotta find a keyboard once I'm done!

    I love the idea of the pelican case - I wanted to do that for my C64 stuff
    (and might still yet)...

    |14Dave!
    |05(|13dflorey|05)
    |13Retro16 BBS |05--> |14bbs.retro16.com |05(|13WIP|05)
    |07All your base are belong to us!

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Windows/32)
    * Origin: Retro16 BBS (21:1/226)
  • From deon@21:2/116 to dflorey on Mon Aug 2 16:08:09 2021
    Re: Re: Using retro hardware to access other BBS systems...
    By: dflorey to deon on Mon Aug 02 2021 03:32 pm

    TCPSER - as in a device that interfaces between serial port and TCP/IP network?

    Yes.

    You can either run it on something like a Raspberry Pi with a USB Serial port (which I've tried) - or since I run pretty much everything in docker - using something like tty0tty (kernel null modem module), where one side uses tnt1 and the other uses tnt0. This works well with QEMU or dosemu...

    ...δεσ∩

    ... Do what you will with this tagline, just don't bother me about it!
    --- SBBSecho 3.14-Linux
    * Origin: I'm playing with ANSI+videotex - wanna play too? (21:2/116)
  • From dflorey@21:1/226 to deon on Mon Aug 2 21:30:32 2021
    Nice! I've been working on a fork of some of the popular ESP8266 serial wifi modem projects out there, I think I have it almost licked, but just need to test a few more things.

    Once I'm happy, I will get some PCB's made up. Make a few and sell the rest cheap!

    |14Dave!
    |05(|13dflorey|05)
    |13Retro16 BBS |05--> |14bbs.retro16.com |05(|13WIP|05)
    |07All your base are belong to us!

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Windows/32)
    * Origin: Retro16 BBS (21:1/226)
  • From Oli@21:3/102 to deon on Mon Aug 2 13:01:01 2021
    deon wrote (2021-08-01):

    Well, I've been playing with retro system on DOS, mainly because I've
    been writing a new mailer to work with them.

    My new mailer also
    supports BINKP and is a little different to traditional mailer/tosser's - and when I have something more functional to show, I'll share more information on it (and hopefully get some testers to break it too).

    'Need more input,'

    How different is it?

    ---
    * Origin: . (21:3/102)
  • From deon@21:2/116 to Oli on Mon Aug 2 23:23:29 2021
    Re: Using retro hardware to access other BBS systems...
    By: Oli to deon on Mon Aug 02 2021 01:01 pm

    Howdy,

    'Need more input,'
    How different is it?

    Well where do I begin.

    I'm building this mainly for hub operators, not individual BBS sysops per-se.

    Its built using PostgreSQL and MongoDB as the message store - havent settled on if I keep either or both of those and try CockroachDB again. The reason I'm playing with those is to make a high available "hub" - the idea being you can drop your mail (and collect mail) from any available hub (and the DB would be replicated between those hubs).

    Not sure if I'll be able to pull it off but I've learnt a few tricks along the way (which is one reason I started on this track and used this as my test use-case). (I also wanted to get my head around these HA strategies with those components - which is skills that will help me outside of BBSing.)

    The mailer side supports both BINKP and EMSI/Zmodem at the start - my goal is folks continue using these legacy pieces of software if they want. Having ported ZModem, it means I can be more graceful with timeouts. (I have successfully transferred mail with FrontDoor and Portal of Power, but not successful with DBridge - it needs some specific work.)

    With everything stored in a DB, no "outbound" directories - I have the mail packet generated on the fly when you connect. Inbound mail is processed on the fly as well, although I may need to queue that up for out of band processing if the mailer is used on any busy network.

    It'll also be possible to implement APIs to both get mail packets (so wget to get your mail packet if you want over http(s)), or with a web frontend, a mail reader could read individual messages using a message API - so some keen mobile api developer could create a mobile app if they wanted and just need to do http API calls.

    One of my main goals with this project is self service - so you configure your connection (via a web interface or mailbe netmail), without dependancy on a hub operator to set you up, or fix something for you.

    My other main goal is freeing up the time it takes for a hub operator to manage a connection. With legacy software, there can be so many configuration items (which is opportunities for mistakes) - so I'm hoping to reduce the work needed to manage and support downstream systems.

    I'm probably 90% of the way there before I'll ask folks to test it. I may also get distracted with something else before I finish.

    ...δεσ∩

    ... If you don't go to people's funerals, they won't come to yours.
    --- SBBSecho 3.14-Linux
    * Origin: I'm playing with ANSI+videotex - wanna play too? (21:2/116)
  • From Daniel Path@21:4/148 to dflorey on Mon Aug 2 22:16:15 2021
    Hello dflorey.

    01 Aug 21 20:18, you wrote to All:

    Hey all

    Just curious, are there members here who regularly or even
    semi-regularly use authentic retro hardware systems (so not emulated)
    to login to other BBS systems - whether that be a BBS you host not on
    the same retro machine or onto other BBS systems out in the wild?

    If so, what sort of systems do you typically do this on?
    What software are you using to access said BBS systems?
    And what connectivity bridge are you using to get the retro system
    onto a typical TCP/IP network (if applicable)?

    I have a couple of systems here that I want to mess with more
    regularly, and not just for the purpose of accessing BBS systems, but recently I fired up one of my Compaq Portables (the 386 plasma
    version), and used Telnet in Windows 3.1 to access my BBS - I did this
    via a serial to WiFi modem device. The functionality was as expected,
    but the experience wasn't great - mainly due to a lack of suitable
    fonts or translation of the ANSI characters - I need to work on this
    one a bit more...

    I have a few different systems I want to try out in the near future.

    I did try to download Kermit from the original source last week, and
    the links are now dead. I managed to get a version from elsewhere, yet
    to try it out.

    my bbs runs under os/2 warp server v4.52 and its a dual-p166 mmx with 128 megabytes of ram. i have attached a modem to it and i have a small linksys pap2t +asterisk so i can dial from my other machine(s). i have a small 486sx zenith laptop and a 386 desktop with dos+linux.

    but mostly i am using the BBS via telnet or local at the console. :)

    --
    Daniel

    ... 10:38pm up 0 days, 9:17:55, load: 71 processes, 284 threads.
    --- GoldED+/EMX 1.1.4.7
    * Origin: Roon's BBS - Budapest, HUNGARY (21:4/148)
  • From Daniel Path@21:4/148 to dflorey on Mon Aug 2 22:21:21 2021
    Hello dflorey.

    01 Aug 21 20:18, you wrote to All:

    Hey all

    Just curious, are there members here who regularly or even
    semi-regularly use authentic retro hardware systems (so not emulated)
    to login to other BBS systems - whether that be a BBS you host not on
    the same retro machine or onto other BBS systems out in the wild?

    If so, what sort of systems do you typically do this on?
    What software are you using to access said BBS systems?
    And what connectivity bridge are you using to get the retro system
    onto a typical TCP/IP network (if applicable)?

    I have a couple of systems here that I want to mess with more
    regularly, and not just for the purpose of accessing BBS systems, but recently I fired up one of my Compaq Portables (the 386 plasma
    version), and used Telnet in Windows 3.1 to access my BBS - I did this
    via a serial to WiFi modem device. The functionality was as expected,
    but the experience wasn't great - mainly due to a lack of suitable
    fonts or translation of the ANSI characters - I need to work on this
    one a bit more...

    I have a few different systems I want to try out in the near future.

    I did try to download Kermit from the original source last week, and
    the links are now dead. I managed to get a version from elsewhere, yet
    to try it out.

    Thanks guys...!

    oh i forgot to mention i have a c64 with wifi modem as well. i am using CCGMS to connect from it. sometimes i am telnetting to my linux box with it as well, just to do small things, like ping, restart services,etc :)

    Daniel

    ... 10:38pm up 0 days, 9:17:55, load: 71 processes, 284 threads.
    --- GoldED+/EMX 1.1.4.7
    * Origin: Roon's BBS - Budapest, HUNGARY (21:4/148)
  • From paulie420@21:2/150 to Ogg on Sun Aug 1 19:47:13 2021
    One side-project I've been working on is re-foaming a
    Pelican iM2700 to hold my full C=128 setup and all related
    hardware. I want to make sure the system I have remains
    intact and working for years to come...

    That looks like an impressive case. I like the ads with the
    grizzly, gorilla, and one with a giant tire resting on the top.

    That case is not built to make compromises!

    Dude, I found a local guy who had surplus aviator boxes... they used to hold setups for headsets in small aircraft and heli's.

    I got two of these HUGE ones, a LARGE one and like 20 small Pelicans for cheap... coolest part, all the smaller ones have a push button and audio wiring installed with a aviation quality metal badge - perfect for my Raspberry Pi Projects... I can wire up the power button and use Python to create a safe shutdown script. Even has an LED power light and industrial charger cable port - it was a total score.

    I have several of the small boxes remaining - but shipping usually kills the 'deal' part of it.

    Also got hundreds of 18650 batteries for electrical projects, too... most hold a good charge. I'm pondering doing a LARGE power bank project, but load balancers and charge systems are hard to learn and...



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

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/07/28 (Raspberry Pi/32)
    * Origin: 2o fOr beeRS bbs>>>20ForBeers.com:1337 (21:2/150)
  • From hyjinx@21:1/126 to Ogg on Tue Aug 3 17:01:56 2021
    I regularly use my IBM 5162 XT/286 to access my board.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2k97T60gms


    hyjinx // Alistair Ross
    Author of 'Back to the BBS' Documentary: https://bit.ly/3tRINeL (YouTube) alsgeeklab.com

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: bbs.alsgeeklab.com:2323 (21:1/126)
  • From hyjinx@21:1/126 to hyjinx on Tue Aug 3 17:04:50 2021
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIl0yRN18AM&list=PLop3s1hMlSJJW8UoJYZrOnrJKAF1e 8rtD&index=2&

    How to use a DOS PC for web, email, twitter, chat and more


    hyjinx // Alistair Ross
    Author of 'Back to the BBS' Documentary: https://bit.ly/3tRINeL (YouTube) alsgeeklab.com

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: bbs.alsgeeklab.com:2323 (21:1/126)
  • From doctor wade@21:3/105 to Daniel Path on Tue Aug 3 09:44:35 2021
    my bbs runs under os/2 warp server v4.52 and its a dual-p166 mmx with 128 megabytes of ram. i have attached a modem to it and i have a small
    linksys pap2t +asterisk so i can dial from my other machine(s). i have a small 486sx zenith laptop and a 386 desktop with dos+linux.
    I have DBridge and Maximus running on OS/2 Warp 4.52 and I use ZOC for OS/2
    to telnet to my Windows and RPi Mystic boards. I use Ray Gwinns SIO to convert the dialup "ring" to a telnet port. Dbridge does a good job runnoing Binkd
    to talk to my Mystic node to recieve email. I just need to have Maximus set
    up to do something with the messages. What BBS software are you running on
    your OS/2 box? I tried to get Remote Access to work for the bbs end but it is too slow with the modem response to answer the incoming "ring". I have also tried Lora BBS but it is a demo version and unable to run the mail frontend that is built into it.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A45 2020/02/18 (Windows/64)
    * Origin: The Lab BBS (21:3/105)
  • From gcubebuddy@21:4/129 to hyjinx on Tue Aug 3 11:02:01 2021
    I regularly use my IBM 5162 XT/286 to access my board. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2k97T60gms
    hyjinx // Alistair Ross

    wow thats cool! i wish i could have my dads old tandy TX1000
    that he had. it had a huge 20 meg hard drive that you had
    to manually park the heads of the drives on it. lol
    we then got super sophisticated and my dad bought a
    1st gen exturnal cdrom drive. it also had a 300 baud
    modem card.
    i also wish i still had my Tandy HX1000 computer.

    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 hyjinx on Tue Aug 3 11:20:01 2021
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIl0yRN18AM&list=PLop3s1hMlSJJW8UoJYZrOnrJ 8rtD&index=2&
    How to use a DOS PC for web, email, twitter, chat and more
    hyjinx // Alistair Ross
    Author of 'Back to the BBS' Documentary: https://bit.ly/3tRINeL (YouTube)

    Cool, are you using FreeDOS for this?

    Thanks
    - Gamecube Buddy

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

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: Hive32 (21:4/129)
  • From Ogg@21:4/106.21 to hyjinx on Tue Aug 3 21:48:00 2021
    Hello hyjinx!

    ** On Tuesday 03.08.21 - 17:01, hyjinx wrote to Ogg:

    I regularly use my IBM 5162 XT/286 to access my board. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2k97T60gms

    The IBM 5162 XT 286 - A wolf in sheep's clothing-
    Z2k97T60gms.mp4

    That's a lot of work!

    BTW.. is the computer room actually cinder block? Or.. is that
    just a faux treatment that makes it look like that?


    --- OpenXP 5.0.50
    * Origin: (} Pointy McPointFace (21:4/106.21)
  • From Oli@21:3/102 to deon on Wed Aug 4 11:42:46 2021
    deon wrote (2021-08-02):

    Re: Using retro hardware to access other BBS systems...
    By: Oli to deon on Mon Aug 02 2021 01:01 pm

    Howdy,

    'Need more input,'
    How different is it?

    Well where do I begin.

    I'm building this mainly for hub operators, not individual BBS sysops per-se.

    Its built using PostgreSQL and MongoDB as the message store - havent settled on if I keep either or both of those and try CockroachDB again.
    The reason I'm playing with those is to make a high available "hub" - the idea being you can drop your mail (and collect mail) from any available
    hub

    That sounds familiar. You mentioned that idea in some other thread in the past. I was hoping for a mailer that also works standalone. Maybe I'm a little bit old fashioned and I used to the way it always worked. But a DB based hub is an interesting project. Running a hub is way to complicated with most (open source) fido software.

    Which programming language do you use?

    (and the DB would be replicated between those hubs).

    Over binkp and PKTs or does it involve other protocols?

    Not sure if I'll be able to pull it off

    The devil's in the details ;)

    The mailer side supports both BINKP and EMSI/Zmodem at the start - my
    goal is folks continue using these legacy pieces of software if they
    want. Having ported ZModem, it means I can be more graceful with
    timeouts. (I have successfully transferred mail with FrontDoor and Portal of Power, but not successful with DBridge - it needs some specific work.)

    Yes, DBridge still needs some work ;P

    With everything stored in a DB, no "outbound" directories - I have the
    mail packet generated on the fly when you connect. Inbound mail is processed on the fly as well,

    I guess this also makes a perfect dupe DB.

    It'll also be possible to implement APIs to both get mail packets (so
    wget to get your mail packet if you want over http(s)), or with a web frontend, a mail reader could read individual messages using a message
    API - so some keen mobile api developer could create a mobile app if they wanted and just need to do http API calls.

    A Gatebau compatible NNTP server for desktop mail clients!

    I once had the idea of a FUSE client that provides Squish, JAM and/or *.MSG message bases.

    ---
    * Origin: . (21:3/102)
  • From deon@21:2/116 to Oli on Wed Aug 4 21:04:10 2021
    Re: Using retro hardware to access other BBS systems...
    By: Oli to deon on Wed Aug 04 2021 11:42 am

    Howdy,

    Which programming language do you use?

    I've implemented it in PHP. I was thinking of trying it all out with Javascript, but as I'm a PHP developer it was easier (and quicker) with many libraries that I could leverage. I'll package it all up in a docker container - so that you only need a docker runtime installed to use it.

    One of the values of using PHP (and would have been for javascript too) - is it could run on a variety of architectures and OSes without too much effort.

    (and the DB would be replicated between those hubs).
    Over binkp and PKTs or does it involve other protocols?

    I'm hoping to leverage the backends core capability for the replication. CockroachDB does it natively, postgres probably needs some thought behind it - and MongoDB does it natively as well.

    If I cant use the backends native capability (I found one node of my CockroachDB cluster was often ejected from the cluster because of time drift - of a few microsends - it was probably because I didnt understand it and didnt deploy it properly) - I'll devise a packet based replication protocol to keep them in sync (but I'm not keen on that).

    I once had the idea of a FUSE client that provides Squish, JAM and/or *.MSG message bases.

    What happened to it?

    ...δεσ∩

    ... A cynic is a person searching for an honest man, with a stolen lantern.
    --- SBBSecho 3.14-Linux
    * Origin: I'm playing with ANSI+videotex - wanna play too? (21:2/116)
  • From poindexter FORTRAN@21:4/122 to hyjinx on Tue Aug 3 08:47:00 2021
    hyjinx wrote to hyjinx <=-

    How to use a DOS PC for web, email, twitter, chat and more

    Nice! Do you have a link to the DOS SSH2 client you mention? I can't find an SSH client that supports modern ciphers.


    --- MultiMail/DOS v0.52
    * Origin: realitycheckBBS.org -- information is power. (21:4/122)
  • From Oli@21:3/102 to deon on Wed Aug 4 16:29:46 2021
    deon wrote (2021-08-04):

    I've implemented it in PHP. I was thinking of trying it all out with Javascript, but as I'm a PHP developer it was easier (and quicker) with many libraries that I could leverage. I'll package it all up in a docker container - so that you only need a docker runtime installed to use it.

    One of the values of using PHP (and would have been for javascript too) - is it could run on a variety of architectures and OSes without too much effort.

    I don't code in PHP and it's not the most amazing language, but installation of PHP (web server) apps is most of the time a no-brainer and it's available in every distribution in a recent version.

    (and the DB would be replicated between those hubs).
    Over binkp and PKTs or does it involve other protocols?

    I'm hoping to leverage the backends core capability for the replication. CockroachDB does it natively, postgres probably needs some thought behind it - and MongoDB does it natively as well.

    I never used CockroachDB. This sounds to me that multiple hubs are sharing one distributed database. What happens if one hub starts to modify or delete messages?

    Do you know CouchDB?

    I once had the idea of a FUSE client that provides Squish, JAM
    and/or *.MSG message bases.

    What happened to it?

    I like the idea and would like to use it, but when I started to look for FUSE libs I decided against it. The learning curve was to steep for my taste. Life is short.

    ---
    * Origin: . (21:3/102)
  • From deon@21:2/116 to Oli on Thu Aug 5 09:40:36 2021
    Re: Using retro hardware to access other BBS systems...
    By: Oli to deon on Wed Aug 04 2021 04:29 pm

    I'm hoping to leverage the backends core capability for the replication. CockroachDB does it natively, postgres probably needs some thought behind it - and MongoDB does it natively as well.
    I never used CockroachDB. This sounds to me that multiple hubs are sharing one distributed database. What happens if one hub starts to modify or delete messages?

    They are sharing a distributed database.

    The concern of a hub modifying messages is no different really to today, where they could be modifying messages as received. Or a network created with a single hub, where the hub operator modifies all messages.

    But one of the things I liked about is the comms to the DB (cockroachdb) requires SSL certs, even for the command line. And while I wouldnt really be providing instruction to the command line, nor would I be expecting that part of the operations of the hub require it. So "generally" speaking you have no need to run SQL commands directly, and you would need to have a goal in mind, if you were trying to get to the SQL command line to run one.

    I'd like to think that folks running hubs are honest amateurs (like me :), but if they got in there and started messing stuff up, a restore from a backup (if required) and a change of certs would fix that problem.

    That said, I have put in placeholders to use PGP in the process. Originally, I wanted to use it so that a downstream sysop could send commands (via netmail/email), and their signature verifies who they are. I've also thought about using it to sign messages as stored in the DB - so it would be a way to identify tampered messages. All a little overboard for a little BBS network, but may be a useful trait in another use-case scenario.

    Do you know CouchDB?

    I dont - but it may be an alternative to CockroachDB to look at as well. Originally I discounted it because its a maximum of 2 instances, which I guess may be OK. I liked the CockkroachDB approach where I could have "N" instances (I think N can be 80 or so), and decommissioning/recommissioning nodes is pretty effortless.

    ...δεσ∩

    ... Good news. Ten weeks from Friday will be a pretty good day.
    --- SBBSecho 3.14-Linux
    * Origin: I'm playing with ANSI+videotex - wanna play too? (21:2/116)
  • From Ogg@21:4/106.21 to deon on Wed Aug 4 22:31:00 2021
    Hello deon!

    ** On Thursday 05.08.21 - 09:40, deon wrote to Oli:

    I never used CockroachDB. This sounds to me that multiple
    hubs are sharing one distributed database. What happens
    if one hub starts to modify or delete messages?

    They are sharing a distributed database.

    What sort of size are you talking about wrt to the database?
    Unlike traditional FTN where systems can pick and choose which
    echoes they want to participate in, will your design be an all
    or nothing approach?


    [...] I have put in placeholders to use PGP in the process.
    Originally, I wanted to use it so that a downstream sysop
    could send commands (via netmail/email), and their
    signature verifies who they are. I've also thought about
    using it to sign messages as stored in the DB - so it would
    be a way to identify tampered messages. All a little
    overboard for a little BBS network, but may be a useful
    trait in another use-case scenario.

    I can't imagine how your brain is processing all those
    considerations. Amazing. Good luck.

    I like the idea of integrating PGP for authentication.

    --- OpenXP 5.0.50
    * Origin: (} Pointy McPointFace (21:4/106.21)
  • From deon@21:2/116 to Ogg on Thu Aug 5 14:09:16 2021
    Re: Using retro hardware to access other BBS systems...
    By: Ogg to deon on Wed Aug 04 2021 10:31 pm

    Hi,

    They are sharing a distributed database.

    What sort of size are you talking about wrt to the database?
    Unlike traditional FTN where systems can pick and choose which
    echoes they want to participate in, will your design be an all
    or nothing approach?

    I havent done any sizing exercise at all - but the requirements will be heavy (especially when compared to the offerings of yesteryear). I'm probably spoilt that I have some modern equipment that has lots of memory and disk space. Once I have the app worked out though, I'm going to build it for the Pi and have it all run there...

    I think the RAM requirements for the DB parts is 4-8GB, although I'm running it all on a 2GB VM at the moment (that has lots of other things running on it too)..

    In terms of disk, these DBs ultimately mean the echomail storage is huuuge, so I think it'll change to how many days to keep (vs how large is the mail store).

    And in terms of echos - yes, BAU - ie: you can subscribe to which echo's you want fed to you or not.

    I can't imagine how your brain is processing all those
    considerations. Amazing. Good luck.

    Thanks.

    Its been an interesting exercise. The components that I'm using I engage with clients weekly using those components, so I wanted to understand them better. Instead of making up a use case while I installed/configured them, I thought I'd try it out and see how far I can take it to help me as an FTN hub.

    It also keeps me busy in the evenings, instead of watching the idiot box like a potato :)

    ...δεσ∩

    ... Life is a hereditary disease.
    --- SBBSecho 3.14-Linux
    * Origin: I'm playing with ANSI+videotex - wanna play too? (21:2/116)
  • From Ogg@21:4/106.21 to deon on Thu Aug 5 07:59:00 2021
    Hello deon!

    ** On Thursday 05.08.21 - 14:09, deon wrote to Ogg:

    And in terms of echos - yes, BAU - ie: you can subscribe to
    which echo's you want fed to you or not.

    If the process involves a shared database, doesn't that mean
    it's the SAME database that goes around? How can participants
    have a curated DB at the same time?


    Its been an interesting exercise. [...]
    It also keeps me busy in the evenings, instead of watching the idiot box like a potato :)

    Reminds me of a line in the children's book, The Couch Potato,
    where after a certain set of circumstances the potato character
    ends up AWAY from the TV screen exploring RL and the outdoors
    and comments [and I'm paraphrasing], "Wow, this is much better
    than HD TV".

    It's not exactly the same senario where you are still looking
    at your screens to do coding, but at least you are educating
    yourself and learning useful stuff.


    --- OpenXP 5.0.50
    * Origin: (} Pointy McPointFace (21:4/106.21)
  • From deon@21:2/116 to Ogg on Thu Aug 5 23:05:47 2021
    Re: Using retro hardware to access other BBS systems...
    By: Ogg to deon on Thu Aug 05 2021 07:59 am

    Howdy,

    And in terms of echos - yes, BAU - ie: you can subscribe to
    which echo's you want fed to you or not.

    If the process involves a shared database, doesn't that mean
    it's the SAME database that goes around? How can participants
    have a curated DB at the same time?

    Ahh, I see your question now.

    Remember, my target user is somebody who wants to hub for a network - and by definition hubs carry everything (or more correctly said, they all carry the same.)

    While a regular sysop may also run my software if they so choose, and could by definition be a cluster of 1, or they run the other nodes in the cluster, then all the nodes have the same echos (which may not be *all* echos).

    ...δεσ∩

    ... Conscience is what hurts when everything else feels so good.
    --- SBBSecho 3.14-Linux
    * Origin: I'm playing with ANSI+videotex - wanna play too? (21:2/116)
  • From Oli@21:3/102 to deon on Thu Aug 5 15:11:36 2021
    deon wrote (2021-08-05):

    I never used CockroachDB. This sounds to me that multiple hubs are
    sharing one distributed database. What happens if one hub starts to
    modify or delete messages?

    They are sharing a distributed database.

    So it's more like a centralized distributed HA message platform with an FTN interface?

    The concern of a hub modifying messages is no different really to today, where they could be modifying messages as received.

    I'm not thinking of the evil hub sysop. More like a software bug deleting or scrambling (some) messages (undetected) or the technical possibility to remove messages.
    What if the EU hub gets a GDPR request from a node to delete their messages? The EU hub wants to comply and the US hub thinks he has a patriotic duty it to ignore it. Why would the benevolent dictator of the network even care. It's less work to spin up a few instances around the world at different providers than coordinating several clustered hubs operated by other sysops.

    Or a network created
    with a single hub, where the hub operator modifies all messages.

    For that reason Fidonet was not designed as a single hub network ;). (Okay, it was mainly designed that way, because we used POTS. But it was also called "cooperative anarchy")

    Do you know CouchDB?

    I dont - but it may be an alternative to CockroachDB to look at as well. Originally I discounted it because its a maximum of 2 instances, which I guess may be OK. I liked the CockkroachDB approach where I could have "N" instances (I think N can be 80 or so), and
    decommissioning/recommissioning nodes is pretty effortless.

    I thought about CouchDB, because replication is more like NNTP or Git (IIRC) than a clustered DB. I think it should be even possible to do the polling of a leaf node over the replication protocol (instead of binkp). But some years have passed since I've used CouchDB.

    ---
    * Origin: . (21:3/102)
  • From deon@21:2/116 to Oli on Fri Aug 6 08:37:15 2021
    Re: Using retro hardware to access other BBS systems...
    By: Oli to deon on Thu Aug 05 2021 03:11 pm

    They are sharing a distributed database.
    So it's more like a centralized distributed HA message platform with an FTN interface?

    Yup.

    I'm not thinking of the evil hub sysop. More like a software bug deleting or scrambling (some) messages (undetected) or the technical possibility to remove messages.
    What if the EU hub gets a GDPR request from a node to delete their messages? The EU hub wants to comply and the US hub thinks he has a patriotic duty it to ignore it. Why would the benevolent dictator of the network even care.

    I dont think there is a solution to this in the BBS/Fido world - nor am I letting it guide the software that I make. (I could make something completely against all legislations that exist anywhere, but doesnt mean you *have* to use what I create.)

    It's less work to spin up a few instances around the world at different providers than coordinating several clustered hubs operated by other sysops.

    I didnt understand this comment.

    Or a network created
    with a single hub, where the hub operator modifies all messages.
    For that reason Fidonet was not designed as a single hub network ;). (Okay, it was mainly designed that way, because we used POTS. But it was also called "cooperative anarchy")

    Agree, but its certainly been implemented that way by some. In fact you could say that all (other)nets start out that way.

    ...δεσ∩

    ... Anything that keeps a politician humble is healthy for democracy.
    --- SBBSecho 3.14-Linux
    * Origin: I'm playing with ANSI+videotex - wanna play too? (21:2/116)
  • From Elf@21:1/194 to DFLOREY on Fri Aug 6 21:21:00 2021
    Quoting Dflorey to All <=-

    Just curious, are there members here who regularly or even
    semi-regularly use authentic retro hardware systems (so not emulated)
    to login to other BBS systems - whether that be a BBS you host not on
    the same retro machine or onto other BBS systems out in the wild?

    I use a Dell Dimension 3000 (cerca 2007?) running Windows 98SE. I don't
    know if that is considered "retro" enough, but I think it is! It's a
    Pentium 4, 512MB RAM. I did make some additions. I installed a
    SoundBlaster 16 PCI sound card, GeForce FX 5500 (I think that's the
    number on the video card), and replace the failing IDE HDD with a 230GB
    SSD connected via IDE to SATA adapter, partitioned into two 115GB
    partitions. I use Ghost 5.1d Personal Edition to backup to the second partition.

    If so, what sort of systems do you typically do this on?
    What software are you using to access said BBS systems?
    And what connectivity bridge are you using to get the retro system
    onto a typical TCP/IP network (if applicable)?

    It connects to the Internet via ethernet cable into one of those
    electric outlet wall units - forgot what they are called.

    I use ProComm Plus 3.0 - which works on Windows 3.1/95/98 and will give
    you the ANSI compatiblity you (and I!) want on BBS's.

    I have a couple of systems here that I want to mess with more
    regularly, and not just for the purpose of accessing BBS systems, but recently I fired up one of my Compaq Portables (the 386 plasma
    version), and used Telnet in Windows 3.1 to access my BBS - I did this
    via a serial to WiFi modem device. The functionality was as expected,
    but the experience wasn't great - mainly due to a lack of suitable
    fonts or translation of the ANSI characters - I need to work on this

    ProComm Plus 3.0 is what you need for tha Windows 3.1 environment.

    Anyway, I have been having fun with this Windows 98 computer and even
    created a couple web sites with it to share what applications I have
    installed, but also to bring a little 90's style back to the web
    <hahaha>.

    You can check it out at:

    http://lifeseven.com/1990s

    You can download from my site ProComm Plus 3.0 and some other helpful
    Windows 98 applications (some of which run on Windows 3.1, like ProComm
    Plus).

    Oh, and my site works fine under Windows 3.1 with Internet Explorer 5.0.
    I don't use SSL and I use an application to build it that was born in
    the 90's. The site is probably not friendly to slow connections, but I
    have not tested that. I have a fast connection here and have no desire
    to relive THAT part of my past. <haha>

    Just having fun playing the sandbox of the past. :-)




    ~Elf

    ,---------------------------,
    | /---------------------\ |
    | | | |
    | | Long Live | |
    | | DOS!! | |
    | | | |
    | | | |
    | \_____________________/ |
    |___________________________|
    ,---\_____ [] _______/------,
    / /______________\ /|
    /___________________________________ / | ___
    | | | )
    | 486DX66 [-------] | | (
    | o o o [-------] | / _)_
    |__________________________________ |/ / /
    /-------------------------------------/| ( )/
    /-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/ / /-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/ / ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    ... DOS is just an operating system that runs Windows 3.1
    ___ Blue Wave/386 v2.30
    --- SBBSecho 3.14-Win32
    * Origin: Diamond Mine Online BBS 21:1/194 bbs.dmine.net:24 (21:1/194)
  • From Avon@21:1/101 to Elf on Sat Aug 7 15:32:05 2021
    On 06 Aug 2021 at 09:21p, Elf pondered and said...

    Just having fun playing the sandbox of the past. :-)


    ,---------------------------,
    | /---------------------\ |
    | | | |
    | | Long Live | |
    | | DOS!! | |
    | | | |
    | | | |
    | \_____________________/ |
    |___________________________|
    ,---\_____ [] _______/------,
    / /______________\ /|
    /___________________________________ / | ___
    | | | )
    | 486DX66 [-------] | | (
    | o o o [-------] | / _)_
    |__________________________________ |/ / /
    /-------------------------------------/| ( )/
    /-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/ / /-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/ / ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Nice ASCII sir :)

    Not sure if you know but there's also a new echomail area called FSX_RETRO
    that started up a few months back too that you may like.

    Best, Paul

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: Agency BBS | Dunedin, New Zealand | agency.bbs.nz (21:1/101)
  • From Blue White@21:4/134 to deon on Sat Aug 7 07:50:23 2021
    You can either run it on something like a Raspberry Pi with a USB
    Serial port (which I've tried) - or since I run pretty much everything
    in docker - using something like tty0tty (kernel null modem module),
    where one side uses tnt1 and the other uses tnt0. This works well with QEMU or dosemu...

    Yes, it does! Only issue I have had with it is when it gets hit with a
    bot. The tcpser/tty0tty interface will stop communicating with the DOS BBS sofware in a heartbeat when that happens.



    ... Gone crazy, be back later, please leave message.
    --- MultiMail
    * Origin: Possum Lodge South * possumso.fsxnet.nz:7636/SSH:2122 (21:4/134)
  • From Daniel Path@21:4/148 to doctor wade on Sat Aug 7 21:00:31 2021
    Hello doctor.

    03 Aug 21 09:44, you wrote to me:

    my bbs runs under os/2 warp server v4.52 and its a dual-p166 mmx
    with 128 megabytes of ram. i have attached a modem to it and i
    have a small linksys pap2t +asterisk so i can dial from my other
    machine(s). i have a small 486sx zenith laptop and a 386 desktop
    with dos+linux.
    I have DBridge and Maximus running on OS/2 Warp 4.52 and I use ZOC for OS/2 to telnet to my Windows and RPi Mystic boards. I use Ray Gwinns
    SIO to convert the dialup "ring" to a telnet port. Dbridge does a good
    job runnoing Binkd to talk to my Mystic node to recieve email. I just
    need to have Maximus set up to do something with the messages. What
    BBS software are you running on your OS/2 box? I tried to get Remote Access to work for the bbs end but it is too slow with the modem
    response to answer the incoming "ring". I have also tried Lora BBS but
    it is a demo version and unable to run the mail frontend that is built into it.

    i'm using the classic combo: maximus/2+squish/2+xenia/2 with nef+areafix :)

    Daniel

    ... 10:45pm up 3 days, 23:16:30, load: 67 processes, 273 threads.
    --- GoldED+/EMX 1.1.4.7
    * Origin: Roon's BBS - Budapest, HUNGARY (21:4/148)
  • From doctor wade@21:3/105 to Daniel Path on Sat Aug 7 17:43:11 2021
    i'm using the classic combo: maximus/2+squish/2+xenia/2 with nef+areafix

    I am struggling with Max 3.0 using D'Bridge as the mailer. I can toss the
    mail to Max and see the messages in all the directories. Maximus won't show them on the bbs. I tried squish and fastecho and have had no luck. It has to
    be something simple but I have banged my head on it all day. I used RA and Frontdoor in the 80-90's but as far as I can tell Frontdoor won't talk to my hub.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A45 2020/02/18 (Windows/64)
    * Origin: The Lab BBS (21:3/105)
  • From deon@21:2/116 to Blue White on Sun Aug 8 09:56:31 2021
    Re: Re: Using retro hardware to access other BBS systems...
    By: Blue White to deon on Sat Aug 07 2021 07:50 am

    Yes, it does! Only issue I have had with it is when it gets hit with a bot. The tcpser/tty0tty interface will stop communicating with the DOS BBS sofware in a heartbeat when that happens.

    TCPser stops working?

    I must admist I've not put it online and had it stressed tested by the Internet.

    Would put something like HAproxy infront of it help?

    ...δεσ∩

    ... BROOK'S LAW: Adding manpower to a late software project makes it later.
    --- SBBSecho 3.14-Linux
    * Origin: I'm playing with ANSI+videotex - wanna play too? (21:2/116)
  • From deon@21:2/116 to doctor wade on Sun Aug 8 10:00:22 2021
    Re: Re: Using retro hardware to access other BBS systems...
    By: doctor wade to Daniel Path on Sat Aug 07 2021 05:43 pm

    be something simple but I have banged my head on it all day. I used RA and Frontdoor in the 80-90's but as far as I can tell
    Frontdoor won't talk to my hub.

    I'm your hub and I have another FrontDoor user (Spectre).

    We can get it going. You're not defined on the EMSI side, but that's an easy fix.

    Do you want to use FD?

    ...δεσ∩

    ... Hope is a good breakfast, but a bad supper.
    --- SBBSecho 3.14-Linux
    * Origin: I'm playing with ANSI+videotex - wanna play too? (21:2/116)
  • From Al@21:4/106.2 to doctor wade on Sun Aug 8 02:57:38 2021
    i'm using the classic combo: maximus/2+squish/2+xenia/2 with nef+areafix

    I am struggling with Max 3.0 using D'Bridge as the mailer. I can toss the mail to Max and see the messages in all the directories. Maximus won't show them on the bbs.

    It's been too many years since I ran Maximus but I recall I had to add new areas to one of the config files and I think I had to run some command to update so the BBS could see those new areas. I can't recall anymore the file I had to update or what program I ran after that.

    Do you have access to fido? There is still the MUFFIN (for Maximus) and TUB (for Squish) areas though they are mostly quiet these days there are still folks there who could be of help I think.

    --- BBBS/Li6 v4.10 Toy-5
    * Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (21:4/106.2)
  • From Al@21:4/106.2 to Al on Sun Aug 8 03:42:38 2021
    It's been too many years since I ran Maximus but I recall I had to add new areas to one of the config files and I think I had to run some command to update so the BBS could see those new areas. I can't recall anymore the file I had to update or what program I ran after that.

    msgarea.ctl was the file I had to edit and I think I had to run silt whenever I edited that file so the areas would be visible.

    --- BBBS/Li6 v4.10 Toy-5
    * Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (21:4/106.2)
  • From Blue White@21:4/134 to deon on Sun Aug 8 09:05:00 2021
    deon wrote to Blue White <=-

    Yes, it does! Only issue I have had with it is when it gets hit with a bot. The tcpser/tty0tty interface will stop communicating with the DOS BBS
    sofware in a heartbeat when that happens.

    TCPser stops working?

    tty0tty stops working, from what I can tell. The communications with the
    DOS BBS software somehow get out of sync when it is hammered repeatedly.

    I must admist I've not put it online and had it stressed tested by the Internet.

    Would put something like HAproxy infront of it help?

    It might. I tried that and it didn't seem to work like I thought it would,
    but I did not really play with it too much. It could work in the hands of someone who is more familiar with it or has time to tweak it.


    ... He does the work of 3 Men...Moe, Larry & Curly
    --- MultiMail
    * Origin: Possum Lodge South * possumso.fsxnet.nz:7636/SSH:2122 (21:4/134)
  • From Otto Reverse@21:1/225 to dflorey on Sun Aug 8 16:32:05 2021
    Yes, I do fairly regularly. I used to be into 8-bit machines (and Atari
    ST's) but now I am mostly focused on early PC's. I've got a PIII (which isn't early I know) that I use for late DOS and early Windows gaming. In DOS I use Telemate and a wifi-serial modem device. I also use my Kaypro 4 with that
    same wifi-serial device.

    I have a Gateway Pentium MMX era laptop that I am working on setting up with early Wifi in DOS (having some issues, time to tinker being the biggest one). That will allow me to use mTCP's telnet for BBSing "authentically" in a DOS computer while at the same time being able to do so from my deck outside.
    But our summers are short so I probably won't get to experience that until 2022. If I do have success with that setup I'm going to get the battery rebuilt so I can use it for more than 20 seconds without it shutting off!

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: Free Speech You Smeg Head (21:1/225)
  • From doctor wade@21:3/105 to deon on Sun Aug 8 15:37:27 2021
    I'm your hub and I have another FrontDoor user (Spectre).

    We can get it going. You're not defined on the EMSI side, but that's an easy fix.

    Do you want to use FD?
    Thanks for the offer! I have D'Bridge working now with OS/2. The Binkd talks
    to my Mystic box no problem. I have emailed JoHo for a serial number key to
    use with FD but have not heard back from him so I will hold off on using FD.
    I just need to figure out how to get Maximus to show the messages. Old
    software is fun but can be a pain to coble together. I have Lora installed
    for OS/2 and it will show the mmessage areas from the mailer just fine. The problem with Lora is it is crippled without a key and you can't trun off the internaal mailer to send mail out. Thank Gos Mystic works right out of the
    box!

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A45 2020/02/18 (Windows/64)
    * Origin: The Lab BBS (21:3/105)
  • From doctor wade@21:3/105 to Al on Sun Aug 8 15:38:59 2021
    Do you have access to fido? There is still the MUFFIN (for Maximus) and TUB (for Squish) areas though they are mostly quiet these days there are still folks there who could be of help I think.
    I have access to Fido on other boards. I will check out the echoes and see
    what I can scare up.
    Thanks!

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A45 2020/02/18 (Windows/64)
    * Origin: The Lab BBS (21:3/105)
  • From doctor wade@21:3/105 to Al on Sun Aug 8 15:46:20 2021
    msgarea.ctl was the file I had to edit and I think I had to run silt whenever I edited that file so the areas would be visible.
    I tried that. I created the msgarea.ctl and ran siltp to update the .ctl
    files but that did not work. I have looked at Squish and FastEcho but have
    not had any luck with them either. I am missing a piece of software
    somewhere. I think I used to use Qecho with RA and Fromtdoor but I closed
    down my original bbs in 97 and I just don;t remember how it worked before.
    I'll keep at it. If I could get a serial key for Lora BBS I could make it
    work as I could disable the internal mailer and just use D'Bridge and binkd
    to handle the mail. Lora will show the mail areas but I can't get mail back
    out without a key. I have tried to contact Marco Maccaferri the author of
    Lora but I am sure he has moved on since 95!

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A45 2020/02/18 (Windows/64)
    * Origin: The Lab BBS (21:3/105)
  • From acn@21:3/127.1 to doctor wade on Mon Aug 9 12:07:00 2021
    Am 08.08.21 schrieb doctor wade@21:3/105 in FSX_GEN:

    Hallo doctor,

    I have tried to contact Marco Maccaferri the
    author of Lora but I am sure he has moved on since 95!

    Just as a hint - have you seen Lora2 and Lora3 in Marcos Github
    repositories?

    https://github.com/maccasoft/lora2
    https://github.com/maccasoft/lora3

    Regards,
    Anna

    --- OpenXP 5.0.50
    * Origin: Imzadi Box Point (21:3/127.1)
  • From Daniel Path@21:4/148 to Al on Mon Aug 9 13:06:28 2021
    Hello Al.

    08 Aug 21 02:57, you wrote to doctor wade:

    i'm using the classic combo: maximus/2+squish/2+xenia/2 with
    nef+areafix

    I am struggling with Max 3.0 using D'Bridge as the mailer. I can
    toss the mail to Max and see the messages in all the directories.
    Maximus won't show them on the bbs.

    It's been too many years since I ran Maximus but I recall I had to add
    new areas to one of the config files and I think I had to run some
    command to update so the BBS could see those new areas. I can't recall anymore the file I had to update or what program I ran after that.

    yes you have to add areas to \MAX\MSGAREA.CTL and after you have to run `SILT.EXE max` (DOS) or `SILTP.EXE max` (OS/2)

    Daniel

    ... 2:59pm up 5 days, 15:30:55, load: 67 processes, 273 threads.
    --- GoldED+/EMX 1.1.4.7
    * Origin: Roon's BBS - Budapest, HUNGARY (21:4/148)
  • From Oli@21:3/102 to doctor wade on Mon Aug 9 16:43:29 2021
    doctor wrote (2021-08-08):

    msgarea.ctl was the file I had to edit and I think I had to run silt
    whenever I edited that file so the areas would be visible.
    I tried that. I created the msgarea.ctl and ran siltp to update the .ctl files but that did not work. I have looked at Squish and FastEcho but have not had any luck with them either. I am missing a piece of software somewhere.

    Have you read through the Maximus and Squish documentation? I'm pretty sure you don't need any other software and the documentation describes all the configuration steps and commands you have to run.

    I think I used to use Qecho with RA and Fromtdoor but I closed
    down my original bbs in 97 and I just don;t remember how it worked before.

    I ran BinkleyTerm Squish and Maximus, but forgot all the details.

    I'll keep at it. If I could get a serial key for Lora BBS I could make it work as I could disable the internal mailer and just use D'Bridge and binkd to handle the mail. Lora will show the mail areas but I can't get mail back out without a key. I have tried to contact Marco Maccaferri the author of Lora but I am sure he has moved on since 95!

    Lora is open source (but hard to build on newer Linux distros). Maybe there is a version that doesn't require a key or there is some keygen available. IIRC Lora was always a bit buggy. I think Squish / Maximus / binkd was the better software on OS/2.

    ---
    * Origin: . (21:3/102)
  • From doctor wade@21:3/105 to Oli on Mon Aug 9 11:08:12 2021
    Have you read through the Maximus and Squish documentation? I'm pretty sure you don't need any other software and the documentation describes
    all the configuration steps and commands you have to run.
    I have. I had the docs to both open while trying to set this up and went through it step by step and did not have any luck. I have a batch file for Maximus that I found on the net. The squish command it gave was "squish
    out squash" which did nothing except complain that "squish" was not a valid command. I changed that to "SQ386p OUT SQUASH" and it quit complaing about
    the command but did nothing. I am using Squish version 1.11

    Lora is open source (but hard to build on newer Linux distros). Maybe there is a version that doesn't require a key or there is some keygen available. IIRC Lora was always a bit buggy. I think Squish / Maximus / binkd was the better software on OS/2.
    I have the source code for Lora 2 aand Lora 3 but don't have a clue how to compile in OS/2. Another user tried last year to compile it and had no luck
    as far as I know. I think his name was Phubar or Phoobar. He had trouble locating the correct software required to compile it. Lora works great as a
    bbs but is crippled by not being able to dump the internal mailer. I'll keep looking. Thanks for all your suggestions.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A45 2020/02/18 (Windows/64)
    * Origin: The Lab BBS (21:3/105)
  • From doctor wade@21:3/105 to acn on Mon Aug 9 11:11:10 2021
    Hallo doctor,


    Just as a hint - have you seen Lora2 and Lora3 in Marcos Github repositories?

    https://github.com/maccasoft/lora2
    https://github.com/maccasoft/lora3
    I took a look at it but as I am not a coder it does me little good. Another FSXNET user tried last year to compile the OS/2 version but had no luck
    getting the correct software to compile on OS/2. If anyone out there can compile it, I would be most appreciative! Thanks for your suggestion.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A45 2020/02/18 (Windows/64)
    * Origin: The Lab BBS (21:3/105)
  • From Oli@21:3/102 to doctor wade on Tue Aug 10 09:45:19 2021
    doctor wrote (2021-08-09):

    Have you read through the Maximus and Squish documentation? I'm
    pretty sure you don't need any other software and the documentation
    describes all the configuration steps and commands you have to run.

    I have. I had the docs to both open while trying to set this up and went through it step by step and did not have any luck. I have a batch file for Maximus that I found on the net. The squish command it gave was "squish out squash" which did nothing except complain that "squish" was not a valid command. I changed that to "SQ386p OUT SQUASH" and it quit
    complaing about the command but did nothing. I am using Squish version 1.11

    Maybe there were no messages in the message base to export or no configured message bases? This is how it looks on my system:

    $ squish out

    SQUISH/LINUX SquishMail Conference Processor, Version 1.12.003 BETA.
    Copyright 1990, 2004 by Lanius Corporation. All rights reserved.

    Checking /ftn/squish/outbound.sq/...

    Scanning: FSX_BBS (00211-00211)
    Scanning: FSX_CRY (00002-00002)
    Scanning: FSX_ENG (00020-00020)
    Scanning: FSX_GEN (01805-01805)
    Scanning: FSX_HAM (00029-00029)
    Scanning: FSX_MAG (00102-00102)
    Scanning: FSX_MYS (00441-00441)
    Scanning: FSX_NET (00161-00161)
    Scanning: FSX_TST (00347-00347)

    Squish/Linux: Done!

    The command for tossing (importing) mail is:

    squish in

    or do everything in one run:

    squish in out squash link


    SquishMail can be started with any of the following commands:

    SQUISH [IN] [OUT] [SQUASH] [LINK] [switches...]

    Any or all of the above options may be specified on one command-line.
    `IN' instructs Squish to toss (import) messages. `OUT' instructs
    Squish to scan (export) messages. `SQUASH' instructs Squish to
    pack/mash messages in the netmail area. `LINK' instructs Squish to
    relink reply chains. Specifying `IN' and `OUT' together turns on
    Squish's one-pass mode.

    ---
    * Origin: . (21:3/102)
  • From Spectre@21:3/101 to deon on Wed Aug 11 07:54:00 2021
    bot. The tcpser/tty0tty interface will stop communicating with the
    DOS BBS sofware in a heartbeat when that happens.

    TCPser stops working?

    I must admist I've not put it online and had it stressed tested by the Internet.

    Would put something like HAproxy infront of it help?

    I have similar issues... I believe I have a bit of an issue in the rlfossil ìsection of things, but when hammered by a bot, haproxy seems to get out of ìsync with backend.

    I suspect haproxy resets faster than the BBS end. Instead of ignoring ìincoming connections what I've found is if you cycle through the "failed" ìnodes all of a sudden they'll start connecting again.

    Spec


    *** THE READER V4.50 [freeware]
    --- SuperBBS v1.17-3 (Eval)
    * Origin: We know where you live, we're coming round to get you (21:3/101)
  • From Spectre@21:3/101 to deon on Wed Aug 11 07:59:00 2021
    Frontdoor won't talk to my hub.

    I'm your hub and I have another FrontDoor user (Spectre).

    Generally its rock solid too. But, unless you have a current install/key you ìcannot as far as I'm aware get any keys for FD from JoHo. Apprently HD/SSD ìfailure. I ended up using FD2.26 for best functionality without a key.

    Spec


    *** THE READER V4.50 [freeware]
    --- SuperBBS v1.17-3 (Eval)
    * Origin: We know where you live, we're coming round to get you (21:3/101)
  • From doctor wade@21:3/105 to Oli on Wed Aug 11 11:06:08 2021
    Maybe there were no messages in the message base to export or no configured message bases? This is how it looks on my system:

    $ squish out

    SQUISH/LINUX SquishMail Conference Processor, Version 1.12.003 BETA.
    I have messages in the c:\max\msg\FSX_TST directory that was put there by D'Bridge. I logged into the bbs to send a test message to FSX_TST. I have to add a "p" to all the squish commands as I am running OS/2.
    My runnbbs bat has:
    :scan
    squishp out squash -fEchoToss.Log
    scanbldp users.bbs areas.dat local matrix @echotoss.log
    goto loop
    :pack
    squishp squash
    scanbldp user.bbs area.dat local.matrix
    goto loop
    ===================================
    Squish directory has a EchoToss.Log which contains
    FSX_TST

    Squish Mail.log shows
    + 11 Aug 10:22:22 SQSH Begin, Squish/2 v1.11 (mem=2034720k - main=000f:0000)
    # 11 Aug 10:22 222 SQSH Scanning messages from echo tosslog
    +11 Aug 10:22:22 SQSH End. Toss=o (0/s), sent=0 (0/s), mem=2034684k

    No messages show up in the test message area of the bbs or any other FSX
    areas I have added to the msgarea.ctl
    M
    y Squish AREAS.BBS contails this entry:
    $C:\MAX\MSG FSX_TST 21:3/105 (My Mystic Box)

    My msgarea.ctl contains this entry:
    MsgArea 16
    ACS Demoted
    Desc FSXNET Echo: Test Echo
    Style Squish Echo Pub
    Tag FSX_TST
    Path Msg\FSX_TST

    I am sure I am overlooking something simple but as of now I can't find it.
    The logs do not reveal much information. The outgoing mail never makes it to the D'Bridge C:\DB\OUTBOUND directory to be sent out.
    My C:\Max\Msg directory has FSX_TST.sqd file and a FSX_TST.sqi file in it. Those 2 files appear to have the outgoing messages from the FSX_TST area.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A45 2020/02/18 (Windows/64)
    * Origin: The Lab BBS (21:3/105)
  • From Atreyu@21:1/176 to Doctor Wade on Wed Aug 11 13:09:31 2021
    On 11 Aug 21 11:06:08, Doctor Wade said the following to Oli:

    I am sure I am overlooking something simple but as of now I can't find it. The logs do not reveal much information. The outgoing mail never makes it t the D'Bridge C:\DB\OUTBOUND directory to be sent out.

    Any 3rd-party tossers used with D'Bridge must either specifically support the unique D'Bridge queue-format, or configured for Frontdoor or "Dynamic" mode where the outbound bundles are in Arcmail format and have corrosponding *.MSG Netmail attachments. For example, a Netmail message called 2.MSG with C:\DB\OUTBOUND\00001000.SU0 in the subject line and KillFile attribute.

    Also the D'Bridge directories QUEUE and PACKETS should *never* be used by any other programs. I assume this "outbound" directory you mention is related to the tosser you're running and not sharing a setting in D'Bridge Config-Dirs.

    Atreyu

    --- Renegade vY2Ka2
    * Origin: Joey, do you like movies about gladiators? (21:1/176)
  • From doctor wade@21:3/105 to Atreyu on Wed Aug 11 14:15:08 2021
    Any 3rd-party tossers used with D'Bridge must either specifically
    support the unique D'Bridge queue-format, or configured for Frontdoor or "Dynamic" mode where the outbound bundles are in Arcmail format and have corrosponding *.MSG Netmail attachments. For example, a Netmail message
    Ok. I will have to check into that. I have never used D"Bridge before. I just picked it since it came with binkd and connects to my Mystic node.
    Also the D'Bridge directories QUEUE and PACKETS should *never* be used
    by any other programs. I assume this "outbound" directory you mention is related to the tosser you're running and not sharing a setting in
    D'Bridge Config-Dirs.
    Yep. My bad. My D'Bridge configuration has Outbound queue path of
    C:\DB\QUEUE\
    Nothing in Squish or Maximus is pointing to Queue or Packets directories. I think some of my confusion is knowing the difference between Squish and *.MSG format. I have read the docs for both Maximus, D'Bridge, and Squish and I am still confused. I am not sure how Squish is supposed to get the packets to D'Bridge to send them out. I will keep at it...
    Thanks for your help!

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A45 2020/02/18 (Windows/64)
    * Origin: The Lab BBS (21:3/105)
  • From Daniel Path@21:4/148 to doctor wade on Wed Aug 11 21:14:02 2021
    Hello doctor.

    11 Aug 21 11:06, you wrote to Oli:

    @TID: Mystic BBS 1.12 A45
    @MSGID: 21:3/105 25639379
    @REPLY: 21:3/102 61123c96
    @TZUTC: -0500
    Maybe there were no messages in the message base to export or no
    configured message bases? This is how it looks on my system:

    $ squish out

    SQUISH/LINUX SquishMail Conference Processor, Version 1.12.003
    BETA.
    I have messages in the c:\max\msg\FSX_TST directory that was put there
    by D'Bridge. I logged into the bbs to send a test message to FSX_TST.
    I have to add a "p" to all the squish commands as I am running OS/2.
    My runnbbs bat has: :scan squishp out squash -fEchoToss.Log scanbldp users.bbs areas.dat local matrix @echotoss.log goto loop :pack squishp squash scanbldp user.bbs area.dat local.matrix goto loop ===================================
    Squish directory has a EchoToss.Log which contains
    FSX_TST

    Squish Mail.log shows
    + 11 Aug 10:22:22 SQSH Begin, Squish/2 v1.11 (mem=2034720k - main=000f:0000) # 11 Aug 10:22 222 SQSH Scanning messages from echo tosslog +11 Aug 10:22:22 SQSH End. Toss=o (0/s), sent=0 (0/s), mem=2034684k

    No messages show up in the test message area of the bbs or any other
    FSX areas I have added to the msgarea.ctl M y Squish AREAS.BBS
    contails this entry: $C:\MAX\MSG FSX_TST
    21:3/105 (My Mystic Box)


    this should be:

    $C:\MAX\MSG\FSX_TEST FSX_TEST 21:3/105

    :)

    regards,
    --
    Daniel

    ... 11:06pm up 7 days, 23:37:38, load: 67 processes, 273 threads.
    --- GoldED+/EMX 1.1.4.7
    * Origin: Roon's BBS - Budapest, HUNGARY (21:4/148)
  • From Atreyu@21:1/176 to Doctor Wade on Wed Aug 11 19:15:59 2021
    On 11 Aug 21 14:15:08, Doctor Wade said the following to Atreyu:

    Nothing in Squish or Maximus is pointing to Queue or Packets directories. I think some of my confusion is knowing the difference between Squish and *.M format. I have read the docs for both Maximus, D'Bridge, and Squish and I a still confused. I am not sure how Squish is supposed to get the packets to D'Bridge to send them out. I will keep at it...
    Thanks for your help!

    I'm the current author of D'Bridge so if you're really stuck you can contact me directly anytime. You may want to hang out in the DBRIDGE echo on Fidonet as many sysops lurk there and I know there were some who had Max working good. I answer all posts, Netmails, emails, phone calls, I can assist via Teamviewer or Anydesk if you're really stuck.

    Basically when you tell D'Bridge to rescan the Queue, it scans every message in the Netmail directory to build an outgoing packet. Either a packet is built or the Netmail message is ignored due to its attributes. The mailer shows a counter on the screen of every message processed and what its doing with it.

    Also please make sure you are running the latest version available on www.dbridgemailer.com. The current release is August 4th.

    Atreyu

    --- Renegade vY2Ka2
    * Origin: Joey, do you like movies about gladiators? (21:1/176)
  • From poindexter FORTRAN@21:4/122 to Oli on Tue Aug 10 07:21:00 2021
    Oli wrote to doctor wade <=-

    I ran BinkleyTerm Squish and Maximus, but forgot all the details.

    I have my old Bink/Squish/Max setup for DOS burned to a CD, do I need to dig it out?


    ... No ceremonies are necessary.
    --- MultiMail/DOS v0.52
    * Origin: realitycheckBBS.org -- information is power. (21:4/122)
  • From doctor wade@21:3/105 to Atreyu on Thu Aug 12 16:58:13 2021
    I'm the current author of D'Bridge so if you're really stuck you can contact me directly anytime. You may want to hang out in the DBRIDGE
    echo on Fidonet as many sysops lurk there and I know there were some who had Max working good. I answer all posts, Netmails, emails, phone calls,
    I can assist via Teamviewer or Anydesk if you're really stuck.
    Thanks!
    I think Db is working correctly. I sent a test message through it to the FSX_TST echo and got a reply back using the built in editor. My real problem
    is how to get the messages from DB to Maximus and from Maximus to DB, Once I figure that out it should be smooth sailing. I appreciate your offer for
    help. I will find a Fidonet bbs and look through the DB, Maximus, and Squish echos.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A45 2020/02/18 (Windows/64)
    * Origin: The Lab BBS (21:3/105)
  • From Oli@21:3/102 to doctor wade on Fri Aug 13 09:06:25 2021
    doctor wrote (2021-08-11):

    Maybe there were no messages in the message base to export or no
    configured message bases? This is how it looks on my system:

    $ squish out

    SQUISH/LINUX SquishMail Conference Processor, Version 1.12.003
    BETA.
    I have messages in the c:\max\msg\FSX_TST directory that was put there by D'Bridge. I logged into the bbs to send a test message to FSX_TST. I have to add a "p" to all the squish commands as I am running OS/2.
    My runnbbs bat has:
    :scan
    squishp out squash -fEchoToss.Log
    scanbldp users.bbs areas.dat local matrix @echotoss.log
    goto loop
    :pack
    squishp squash
    scanbldp user.bbs area.dat local.matrix
    goto loop
    ===================================
    Squish directory has a EchoToss.Log which contains
    FSX_TST

    You don't need the EchoToss.Log for testing. If you omit -fEchoToss.Log squish should scan all areas.

    Squish Mail.log shows
    + 11 Aug 10:22:22 SQSH Begin, Squish/2 v1.11 (mem=2034720k - main=000f:0000) # 11 Aug 10:22 222 SQSH Scanning messages from echo tosslog +11 Aug 10:22:22 SQSH End. Toss=o (0/s), sent=0 (0/s), mem=2034684k

    Obviously no new message has been found. What output do you get if you just do
    squishp out
    on the command line? Does it show
    Scanning: FSX_TST
    ?

    ---
    * Origin: . (21:3/102)
  • From dflorey@21:1/226 to Daniel Path on Sun Aug 22 10:50:58 2021
    Hi Daniel

    That's pretty cool, I have some spare SIP accounts and a couple of ATA's...
    For some Sunday afternoon fun in the near future I was contemplating on
    setting up an ATA to the modem, and seeing how it handled over a real phone call.

    Obviously, not something that would really ever get any real world use, but
    for a bit on fun...

    |14Dave!
    |05(|13dflorey|05)
    |13Retro16 BBS |05--> |14bbs.retro16.com |05(|13WIP|05)
    |07All your base are belong to us!

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Windows/32)
    * Origin: Retro16 BBS (21:1/226)
  • From dflorey@21:1/226 to Elf on Thu Sep 9 22:48:21 2021
    Hi Elf

    Thanks for all that, Dell from 2007 is more than retro enough in my book, especially running classic Windows haha..&

    Thanks for the Pro Tip on ProComm Plus - I had TOTALLY forgotten about that program. I will have to download it and give that a rip on the 386..&

    Cheers,

    Dave!

    |14Dave!
    |05(|13dflorey|05)
    |13Retro16 BBS |05--> |14bbs.retro16.com |05(|13WIP|05)
    |07All your base are belong to us!

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Windows/32)
    * Origin: Retro16 BBS (21:1/226)
  • From Elf@21:1/194 to DFLOREY on Thu Sep 9 19:52:00 2021
    Quoting Dflorey to Elf <=-

    Thanks for the Pro Tip on ProComm Plus - I had TOTALLY forgotten about that program. I will have to download it and give that a rip on the
    386..&

    So far I have installed ProComm Plus 3.0 on Windows 3.1, 98SE, ME, XP
    and Windows 10. Works fine on all of them (though on Windows 10 you
    have to install NTVDM when prompted). I also recently tried it on a
    preview release of Windows 11 and it fails to install there - not
    allowed by Windows 11 but I believe that is because they supposedly
    removed NTVDM from Windows 11.

    You can download ProComm Plus 3.0 from my web site at:

    http://lifeseven.com/1990s

    :-)

    ~Elf


    ... I BBS because no one can read my handwriting
    ___ Blue Wave/386 v2.30
    --- SBBSecho 3.14-Win32
    * Origin: Diamond Mine Online BBS 21:1/194 bbs.dmine.net:24 (21:1/194)
  • From phigan@21:1/101 to Elf on Sat Sep 11 15:48:02 2021
    You can download ProComm Plus 3.0 from my web site at:

    IMO, Telemate was the best because it let you have 80x26, which means full 80x25 PLUS a status bar.. Also it let you do things while downloading.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: Agency BBS | Dunedin, New Zealand | agency.bbs.nz (21:1/101)
  • From Elf@21:1/194 to PHIGAN on Sun Sep 12 17:01:00 2021
    Quoting Phigan to Elf <=-

    You can download ProComm Plus 3.0 from my web site at:

    IMO, Telemate was the best because it let you have 80x26, which means
    full 80x25 PLUS a status bar.. Also it let you do things while downloading.

    Can you use that one today? I thought that was only for DOS? Back in the
    day I used Qmodem for DOS. :-) I think I used ProComm Plus when I
    started using Windows.



    ... BBSing: More social. Less media.
    ___ Blue Wave/386 v2.30
    --- SBBSecho 3.14-Win32
    * Origin: Diamond Mine Online BBS 21:1/194 bbs.dmine.net:24 (21:1/194)
  • From phigan@21:1/101 to Elf on Tue Sep 14 08:45:22 2021
    Can you use that one today? I thought that was only for DOS? Back in the day I used Qmodem for DOS. :-) I think I used ProComm Plus when I
    started using Windows.

    There was Procomm Plus for DOS as well, so maybe I forgot about an actual GUI/Windows version. You could always run Telemate and other DOS terminal programs in command prompt, though, as long as you had a proper serial/COM port.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: Agency BBS | Dunedin, New Zealand | agency.bbs.nz (21:1/101)
  • From Elf@21:1/194 to phigan on Mon Sep 13 18:12:00 2021
    phigan wrote to Elf <=-

    There was Procomm Plus for DOS as well, so maybe I forgot about an
    actual GUI/Windows version. You could always run Telemate and other DOS terminal programs in command prompt, though, as long as you had a
    proper serial/COM port.

    I'll have to find a copy and see if I can get it running. Just for fun,
    of course.




    ~Elf

    ,---------------------------,
    | /---------------------\ |
    | | | |
    | | Long Live | |
    | | DOS!! | |
    | | | |
    | | | |
    | \_____________________/ |
    |___________________________|
    ,---\_____ [] _______/------,
    / /______________\ /|
    /___________________________________ / | ___
    | | | )
    | 486DX66 [-------] | | (
    | o o o [-------] | / _)_
    |__________________________________ |/ / /
    /-------------------------------------/| ( )/
    /-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/ / /-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/ / ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    ... Oysters probably think fish can fly.
    === MultiMail/Linux v0.52
    --- SBBSecho 3.14-Win32
    * Origin: Diamond Mine Online BBS 21:1/194 bbs.dmine.net:24 (21:1/194)
  • From Bucko@21:4/131 to phigan on Mon Sep 13 20:34:35 2021
    On 14 Sep 2021, phigan said the following...

    Can you use that one today? I thought that was only for DOS? Back in day I used Qmodem for DOS. :-) I think I used ProComm Plus when I started using Windows.

    Qmodem Pro had a Windows Version also, there is a standalone version of it floating around you just stick it in a folder and click the .exe and it runs without having to install it. I own both but have not installed either in Windows since 98...

    Al

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Windows/32)
    * Origin: The Wrong Number Family Of BBS' - Wrong Number ][ (21:4/131)
  • From Spectre@21:3/101 to Bucko on Tue Sep 14 21:00:00 2021
    Hmm I recall using Telix for a long time, followed by TeleMate.. and then
    onto telnet clients. As soon as we normalised an IP network, it was being routed via a linux box back then a slackware job if I recall right now..
    maybe a redhat...

    But prior to all that was ProTerm on a IIgs :)

    Spec


    *** THE READER V4.50 [freeware]
    --- SuperBBS v1.17-3 (Eval)
    * Origin: We know where you live, we're coming round to get you (21:3/101)
  • From poindexter FORTRAN@21:4/122 to phigan on Tue Sep 14 07:11:00 2021
    phigan wrote to Elf <=-

    There was Procomm Plus for DOS as well, so maybe I forgot about an
    actual GUI/Windows version.

    I'm so old, I had a copy of Procomm. Not Procomm Plus. :)

    Procomm and Procomm Plus were the only terminal programs for DOS that did decent VT102/VT220 emulation, and I worked with phone systems that needed
    all of the Fkeys on a real terminal to work.


    ... There are secrets within lies, answers within riddles.
    --- MultiMail/DOS v0.52
    * Origin: realitycheckBBS.org -- information is power. (21:4/122)
  • From N1uro@21:4/107 to poindexter FORTRAN on Tue Sep 14 10:54:00 2021
    Hey poindexter;

    poindexter FORTRAN wrote to phigan <=-

    I'm so old, I had a copy of Procomm. Not Procomm Plus. :)

    I'm even older... I had the old green monster dumb terminals :\

    ... When in doubt, tell the truth.
    --- MultiMail/Linux v0.52
    * Origin: Carnage - risen from the dead now on SBBS (21:4/107)
  • From tenser@21:1/101 to dflorey on Wed Sep 15 03:07:31 2021
    On 01 Aug 2021 at 08:18p, dflorey pondered and said...

    If so, what sort of systems do you typically do this on?
    What software are you using to access said BBS systems?

    Personally, I'm a lot less interested in using _actual_
    retro hardware (which tends to be flaky and power hungry)
    but I do think it would be cool to build a small "client"
    terminal thingy around a microcontroller to login to a BBS
    (or similar retro thing).

    Something that could provide an SSH client and UTF-8 support,
    and an autoconversion from CP437 to UTF-8 with the Unscii
    font or something. Basically, a souped up terminal. Throw
    an SD card in there for file transfer; that'd be pretty neat.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: Agency BBS | Dunedin, New Zealand | agency.bbs.nz (21:1/101)
  • From Avon@21:1/101 to Spectre on Wed Sep 15 14:46:44 2021
    On 14 Sep 2021 at 09:00p, Spectre pondered and said...

    Hmm I recall using Telix for a long time, followed by TeleMate.. and then

    Telix was my go to, and it had a BBS built into it with the SALT software language.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: Agency BBS | Dunedin, New Zealand | agency.bbs.nz (21:1/101)
  • From poindexter FORTRAN@21:4/122 to N1uro on Wed Sep 15 07:20:00 2021
    N1uro wrote to poindexter FORTRAN <=-

    I'm even older... I had the old green monster dumb terminals :\

    110 baud paper teletype, when I started out managing phone systems that's
    all we had. Who needs syslog when you can just look error messages on the scrolled paper?

    :)




    ... Disciplined self-indulgence
    --- MultiMail/DOS v0.52
    * Origin: realitycheckBBS.org -- information is power. (21:4/122)
  • From poindexter FORTRAN@21:4/122 to tenser on Wed Sep 15 08:16:00 2021
    tenser wrote to dflorey <=-

    Something that could provide an SSH client and UTF-8 support,
    and an autoconversion from CP437 to UTF-8 with the Unscii
    font or something. Basically, a souped up terminal. Throw
    an SD card in there for file transfer; that'd be pretty neat.

    If DOSBOX had a decent SSH client it'd make a great retromod system. Put it into a lunchbox-style case and a mechanical keyboard and I'd love it.


    ... Discard an axiom
    --- MultiMail/DOS v0.52
    * Origin: realitycheckBBS.org -- information is power. (21:4/122)
  • From N1uro@21:4/107 to poindexter FORTRAN on Wed Sep 15 11:58:00 2021
    Hello poindexter;

    poindexter FORTRAN wrote to N1uro <=-

    110 baud paper teletype, when I started out managing phone systems
    that's all we had. Who needs syslog when you can just look error
    messages on the scrolled paper?

    That's sometimes easier on the pupils than the old green monsters.

    ... Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing In a gar
    --- MultiMail/Linux v0.52
    * Origin: Carnage - risen from the dead now on SBBS (21:4/107)
  • From Spectre@21:3/101 to Avon on Thu Sep 16 02:48:00 2021
    Telix was my go to, and it had a BBS built into it with the SALT software language.

    ProTerm on the II lines has a similar feature. Prior to the 286 being
    acquired for the job, the first was a basic host script for these kinds of software.

    Spec


    *** THE READER V4.50 [freeware]
    --- SuperBBS v1.17-3 (Eval)
    * Origin: We know where you live, we're coming round to get you (21:3/101)
  • From tenser@21:1/101 to poindexter FORTRAN on Thu Sep 16 05:21:22 2021
    On 15 Sep 2021 at 08:16a, poindexter FORTRAN pondered and said...

    If DOSBOX had a decent SSH client it'd make a great retromod system. Put it into a lunchbox-style case and a mechanical keyboard and I'd love it.

    A Teensy 4.1 seems like it'd be almost ideal to build something a
    little more custom out of. It even supports an Ethernet phy....

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: Agency BBS | Dunedin, New Zealand | agency.bbs.nz (21:1/101)