I just found this interesting #Perl script which acts as kind of a #telnet #gateway, accepting incomig telnet connections and then starting #dosbox with your preferred #bbs #software (e.g. #Telegard) so that you can run and access old #DOS #bbs #programs via your #Linux host:

https://github.com/Geryon/TelnetBBS

Speaking of the - now abandoned - #MagickaBBS: I've preserved the last "known to compile and run" version of the code on my #Codeberg because I really like this software and always thought it was a pity that the project was halted.

I've also been able to preserve some of the original documentation for the software, although I can *not* guarantee that it will match the checked in codebase in any way. Yet, I still think it's useful.

https://codeberg.org/ufud-org/MagickaBBS

#BBS
#bulletinboardsystem

Back in the day when 40 column displays were common on microcomputers, was email and newsgroup participation with 80 column systems awkward? Be that FidoNet and Echomail or the real ARPANET / Internet if (somehow) available.

By the time I was connecting to BBS systems I had access to an 80 column machine, so I don't personally recall.

OMG I just remembered the BBS craze. Which happened in the decade or so between my childhood computers (Commodore 64), and owning my first PC, so I didn't get to participate. By the time I got back into computers, net connections, email and the web were a thing.

But the BBS is one aspect of the future we need to build. A community-hosted server, offering members a range of services, connected to others via an open digital network.

back in the early 90s my parents brought home an ibm ps/1 with an internal 2400 baud modem. i assumed it was only for sending/receiving faxes.

one day my computer teacher (thank you mr. mckinney!) explained that the modem made my computer capable of dialing out to *other computers* and exchanging data with them. he printed off a five page ream of tractor feed paper titled "The 403 BBS List" and sent me home with it.

i stayed up until 3am that night, dialing every single board on that list using Windows Terminal, creating accounts, and exploring what BBSes were capable of. by the wee hours, i had a new terminal program (Terminate!), knew how to use the z-modem protocol, and had
pirated my first game

one of the little mysteries i came across that night was FILE_ID.DIZ files. every board had them. every zip file had them. they were tiny capsule descriptions of what a program/game was, constrained to 45 cols and 10 rows of ascii. they usually also included some kind of nod to the piracy group that "released" the program.

most BBS software would extract the .DIZ file from the zip, and use that as a file area description for the program, allowing users to understand what they were downloading.

to celebrate this weird little historical curio, today kiki got a FILE_ID.DIZ packed into the zip

in version 1.10 onwards every copy of kiki will now include a FILE_ID.DIZ.

if you haven't heard of kiki yet, check out the project page:
https://tomo-dashi.itch.io/kiki

and if you're new to the kiki community, please post to the #kiki hashtag so we can start building a little webring of kiki instances

Jouer Le Rôle

I just noticed some existing user trying to log into #rcbox #rc2014bbs but being unable to remember their password.

In this case, feel free to contact me here on #Mastodon so I can reset it for you.

Just a FYI.. we're doing some work on the #bbs today. I'm very slowly moving files over to the new BBS server and getting ready to retire the 2011 Core Duo machine that's running the gateway now :). But that's not the reason for the post - I've noticed that I've been getting hit a lot by bots and they're tying up the board so I'm banning some new IP ranges. If you can no longer connect, let me know and I'll see if I accidentally banned you.

The C64 BBS FriaBad offers the daily price per kilo of shrimp when you log out. It's worth calling that board just for that service!

#C64 #Commodore64 #BBS #RetroComputing #Textmode #8bit
#ShrimpPrices #OnlyOnBBS #LogOffBonus

thank you @ernie for this great writeup on #shareware

I had no idea that the file_id.diz standard was a creation of the ASP (association of shareware professionals). i always just assumed it was a file format created by one of the many #bbs programs of the 90s

https://tedium.co/2016/10/27/shareware-history-legacy/

more here on the file format:
http://artscene.textfiles.com/information/faq-file_id.html

+++ SYSOP NEWS +++ SYSOP NEWS +++

As you may remember, RC-BOX BBS - the world's first and (currently) only RC2014 based BBS - has been struggling with connectivity issues.

The good news: I have finally been able to successfully mitigate these.

Some background info: in October last year, I decided to do some maintenance on the system, updating my WiFi modem firmware and replacing the SC132 serial I/O module (using a 6.144 KHz crystal for a fixed 9600 bps) with its cousin, the SC110 serial I/O module which features a CTC chip so it can dynamically set any baud rate.

Turns out that while the module is techincally 100% okay, it sometimes locks up when being used with the BYE.COM program for CP/M.

I think this has to do with BYE.COM setting the CTC to the selected bps during initializiation (which happens after each hangup). For some reason, this often works but occasionally causes the SIO/2 to lock up.

Sometimes, without any reason, BYE.COM would drop into an +++ATH loop although no one was connected, not being able to actually perform the AT command.

It took me weeks to finally realize this, because I was so sure the problem originated from the Zimodem firmware and because the issue only showed up occasionally. It was very annyoing to debug.

So as a result of this finding, I've put the SC132 with the fixed 9600 bps back into the system. Since then, no more of these issues occurred.

As always, you can find all info on how to connect to RC-BOX BBS in my profile info.

P.S.: so now I think the problem originates from the BYE.COM code. But since everything is working properly again, I don't have the desire to dig into the BYE.ASM code any time in the future. There are other projects that I'd like to go on with first.

#rcbox
#bbs
#rc2014
#rc2014bbs
#retrocomputing
#newretro

Going through old warez scene BBSes is so much fun and a really great distraction from life at the moment. The best things I've found (aside from the ascii art of course) have been the messages they send to each other when they find out that an informant is lurking their boards. Surely one of the originating moments of what it means to identify a poser online. #warez #bbs #hacking #thescene

Zephyr

Custom font in the making once again. I thought I'll post this and regret later as the font will likely be totally different.

back in the early 90s, there were many, many different options for running a bbs on IBM/DOS compatibles. many were descendants of source code that had been written, and re-written, and modded by various authors. arguably, the most beautiful of all of them (in terms of built-in ansi menuing) was iNiQUiTY by mike fricker. iniq was a rewrite of Telegard, which itself was a rewrite of WWIV's source code.

in the late 90s, the web was already going full tilt and i started to feel a pang of nostalgia for ansi and dial-up. i found out that mike released the software into the public domain, and iniquity had a new website, and new owners were rekindling development. it died after that, and the website and all knowledge of the site disappeared into obscurity

tonight, after trying to remember an url for 20 years (because I misremembered it), i finally found the original url for iniquity's website. i really miss this era - it was trying to reconcile ansi, ascii and web graphics in a single design:

https://web.archive.org/web/20030322235549/http://iniquitybbs.com/

mike went on to an incredibly successful career in game development, and is now the technical director at epic games

today's archival/software preservation work -

i noticed that PCBoard BBS software's wikipedia article mentioned something kinda weird - that just before clark development went bankrupt in 1997, it was building a server called MetaWorlds... an attempt at bridging the ansi-based BBS with the WWW.

sadly, the software never made it out of beta, and was nowhere to be found.. until today it seems! i managed to dig it out of the glorious ibm wgam-wbiz collection, and i've uploaded a copy to IA:

https://archive.org/details/metaworlds_beta

i honestly don't really understand what MetaWorlds does, so i'm hoping a PCBoard wiz manages to get it talking to their pcb instance, and lets us know how it all works.

update: located a newer beta. uploaded here: https://archive.org/details/metaworlds-beta-17

final update: version 1.02 (final) found!
https://archive.org/details/pcb-metaworlds

if you were bbsing in the 90s, you probably heard of Rusty n Edie's BBS. i used to run across nfo's and file_id.diz's advertising their (long distance for me) board all the time. if you came across porn gifs or PCXs in the 90s, it was almost always a scan from their board

how many boards could say they had 128 nodes?

recently i looked up an old street view of the location in youngstown OH, and amazingly, the sign still mentioned the old BBS - decades after its closure

i loved their old logo, and managed to dig up their original bbs homepage - prior to their FBI raid:
https://web.archive.org/web/19981205104028/http://www.pixi.com/~irvdili/page-22.htm

they also ran a web-based bbs for a very short time:
https://web.archive.org/web/19961114032209/http://www.rne.com/

Out there, in the worrying world of today is a little #Zilog #Z80 computer with a mere 64KB of #RAM and running the #1970s CP/M operating system.

This little machine is connected to the #intertubes and it's serving a #singleuser #bulletinboardsystem for you, the worrying souls of #yesteryears to visit.

Take a break from today, connect like it's 1985 - here on RC-BOX BBS, the world's first and (currently) only #rc2014 based bulletin board in the world!

Check out the #alttext or my #profile info on information on how to connect.