Another "How do I BBS" thread

[MartinW]

So I've read a bunch of posts where people are trying to get online to BBS's with WinUAE. I understand that all you need for networking in WinUAE is bsdscket.library enabled and I indeed have that enabled. iBrowse works fine, AmiTradeCentre works fine but I wanted to check in to a BBS or two.

Previously I have done this on my real Amiga's so I load up Term v4.8 and everything I read says that I need to use telser.device. OK, fair enough, I download it and try to install it but it seems to insist on AmiTCP or similar. But as we know, you don't need a TCP/IP stack such as AmiTCP for WinUAE so the install doesn't work. I tried just creating a dummy AmiTCP install folder with associated Assign. The install obviously works but every BBS just says "line busy".

Moving on, I found DCTelnet which appears to not be reliant on telser.device or any similar thing. I like this a lot. I have been successful with it once. I was able to connect to 'theedge' BBS but I couldn't remember my login. I connected to one or two others but very quickly I reach the point where when I connect, nothing happens, it just sits there as per the screenshot below.

Any ideas please? I didn't do BBS back in the day so I don't know if I'm meant to do something once I've connected or what. I find it odd that if I go to "Connection / Information" bytes received is always 0.

Despite the screenshot this is DCTelnet 1.6, it just says 1.5

[Phantasm]

DCTelnet does indeed access the bsdsocket api directly without the need for telser.device or similar. It is a proper telnet client - telser.device was required to interface the old comms packages to the internet.


It should work fine in winuae just by enabling the bsdsocket api


You should get something like this...(although mine is set to run in 2 colour screenmode, so no ansi colours)

[redblade]

Originally Posted by Phantasm

You should get something like this...(although mine is set to run in 2 colour screenmode, so no ansi colours)

Any reason why you just use two colours? Faster scrolling, save memory?? What conferences are on the edge bbs?

[MartinW]

Thanks for the reply. I went over this with Ordyne (owner / sysop @ the edge) and he spotted a bug in the bbs code which has now been fixed. I didn’t get a chance to check this evening so hopefully I will tomorrow

As for what’s on it, can’t really give you an answer yet but I know Ordyne and it’s quite cool that this BBS is running on real A4000T hardware still!

[Phantasm]

Originally Posted by redblade

Any reason why you just use two colours? Faster scrolling, save memory?? What conferences are on the edge bbs?

Mainly because my emulator setup is a copy of my Amiga HD from back in the day and yes the scrolling was quicker in 2 colours.


Ordyne and myself both ran boards back in the day too. I am now the developer of the /X (ami-express) bbs software. I released versioin 5.0 at the end of last year and am now working on 5.1 (which is in beta test on the edge).


He has conferences for Amiga, C64 and Ami-Express doors. There's a good archive of old Amiga releases online and a trickle of new files too. I think most users just visit for a nostalgia hit really though

[Phantasm]

@redblade - i seem to remember having a user called redblade on my bbs back in the day. Had a quick look through my user data.


Is this you?

[MartinW]

By conferences are we basically just talking chat rooms like IRC? Or is it message based more akin to sending PMs but to a group?

[Phantasm]

Originally Posted by MartinW

By conferences are we basically just talking chat rooms like IRC? Or is it message based more akin to sending PMs but to a group?

conferences in /X terminology means an specific area for files and messages on a given subject.


Access can be controlled to each conference independently. Sysops might chose to have one for each system supported by the bbs or have one for demos one for games etc. Also you might have private conferences for your cosysops or for a specific release group you were affiliated with.

[patrik]

Did some hex-edit-fixes to telser.device some years ago to fix its incorrect AmiTCP:-dependencies:
http://megaburken.net/~patrik/telser_amitcpfree.lha

The archive is intended to be extracted in SYS:.

[MartinW]

Originally Posted by Phantasm

conferences in /X terminology means an specific area for files and messages on a given subject.


Access can be controlled to each conference independently. Sysops might chose to have one for each system supported by the bbs or have one for demos one for games etc. Also you might have private conferences for your cosysops or for a specific release group you were affiliated with.

Ah ok, cool. Not at all what I thought from what they sounded like but extremely useful. I need to sit down and have a good explore when I get a bit of time to relax.

Originally Posted by patrik

Did some hex-edit-fixes to telser.device some years ago to fix its incorrect AmiTCP:-dependencies:
http://megaburken.net/~patrik/telser_amitcpfree.lha

The archive is intended to be extracted in SYS:.

Does this mean then that it would work with either Miami or bsdsocket directly under emulation? Apologies if that's a bit of a dumb question. To be fair, I like DCTelnet but would still be cool to try some others. I guess at some point I must have had AMiTCP installed since Term is already configured with telser device but it's not there now. Real machine is Miami, emu obviously has no stack.

[patrik]

Originally Posted by MartinW

Does this mean then that it would work with either Miami or bsdsocket directly under emulation? Apologies if that's a bit of a dumb question. To be fair, I like DCTelnet but would still be cool to try some others. I guess at some point I must have had AMiTCP installed since Term is already configured with telser device but it's not there now. Real machine is Miami, emu obviously has no stack.

It has always worked with any TCP/IP-stack offering the bsdsocket.library interface (Roadshow, AmiTCP, Miami, TermiteTCP, UAE-host-stack-wrapper), but it has those wonky and impractical requirements on the AmiTCP: assign and directory layout of the AmiTCP installation making it very annoying if you don’t use AmiTCP.

[MartinW]

Maybe it's the directory structure of AmiTCP then. I already tried creating an assign to a dummy amitcp folder but it just crashed when I tried to use it. I'll give your archive above a go - thanks.

[Phantasm]

Originally Posted by patrik

It has always worked with any TCP/IP-stack offering the bsdsocket.library interface (Roadshow, AmiTCP, Miami, TermiteTCP, UAE-host-stack-wrapper), but it has those wonky and impractical requirements on the AmiTCP: assign and directory layout of the AmiTCP installation making it very annoying if you don’t use AmiTCP.

if you are using telser.device to make connections that is true, however if you want to run a telnet daemon it relies on amitcp's inetd daemon to kick off the telserd daemon. Never having used any of the other tcp stacks you mention I don't know if they provide a similar system.

To be honest most people just use telnetd.device if they are hosting a telnet server anyhow but i have recently been adding better support for using telser.device as the serial device to host telnet sessions in ami-express.

[MartinW]

I'm more talking about connecting to the BBS as a client which I assume is the first bit you say about using telser.device to make the connection.

[patrik]

Originally Posted by Phantasm

if you are using telser.device to make connections that is true, however if you want to run a telnet daemon it relies on amitcp's inetd daemon to kick off the telserd daemon. Never having used any of the other tcp stacks you mention I don't know if they provide a similar system.

To be honest most people just use telnetd.device if they are hosting a telnet server anyhow but i have recently been adding better support for using telser.device as the serial device to host telnet sessions in ami-express.

Yes, this package is a minimal one to get up and running as a telnet client. Removing the AmiTCP: dependencies from the entire chain of things needed for acting as a incoming service most likely requires more binaries from the telser archive.

And yes, at least Roadshow and Miami has inetd functionality, but telnetd.device usually works better and is easier to setup as an incoming solution.

[redblade]

Originally Posted by Phantasm

@redblade - i seem to remember having a user called redblade on my bbs back in the day. Had a quick look through my user data.


Is this you?

Yes that is me, 0 uploads . It was pretty hard to find stuff to upload in those days. Is that micro knight font you are using or pot-n00dle?

[Phantasm]

Originally Posted by redblade

Yes that is me, 0 uploads . It was pretty hard to find stuff to upload in those days. Is that micro knight font you are using or pot-n00dle?

i'm using pot-noodle

[MartinW]

I tried to use the modified telser.device last night with Term and maybe I just don't know how I'm meant to use it but the best I could manage was "NO CARRIER" or Line Busy.

But no matter DCTelnet is working just fine so I don't need it anyway.

[Phantasm]

Originally Posted by MartinW

I tried to use the modified telser.device last night with Term and maybe I just don't know how I'm meant to use it but the best I could manage was "NO CARRIER" or Line Busy.

But no matter DCTelnet is working just fine so I don't need it anyway.

Unless you really feel you must use a serial based terminal program I'd stick with DCTelnet anyhow. Its written to do exactly what you want to do. telser.device was a handy workaround back in the day until someone wrote a proper telnet client.

[Saghalie]

Try assigning TCP: to T: ... whenever I use a program that requires AmiTCP this is what I do to over-ride that requirement and it has always worked.

I've never tried using a BBS though.