Help, connecting QL to BBS

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bixio60
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Re: Help, connecting QL to BBS

Post by bixio60 »

Derek,
I have up and running Rshell (Thierry Godefroy) BBS System on my Q68 using Retro Wifi SI and you could do the same.
No need of TCPSer or other PC Internet aware, considering that with Retro Wifi SI the QL is Internet aware.

The Retro WIFI is giving an IP address to the QL and is able to answer to incoming (TCP/IP Internet) call.

The BBS is up only for my personal use, using DynDNS I can reach it when I am abroad with my SMSQmulator running under MacOSX

Fabrizio
Derek_Stewart wrote:Hi,

There a list of connectable of Internet BBS shown at:

https://www.telnetbbsguide.com/bbs/list/detail/

My BBS ran on a QL with Qbox or Pbox as the BBS software. I thought that the BBS system had died and most SYSOPs (BBS Owners), had moved to web based systems.

Which begs the question, should I get my BBS up and running again or convert it to a web site?

I want the BBS running on a QL based system, so some sort of serial connection to am internet aware computer. Maybe a Raspbery PI and use TCPSER, see this link

http://podsix.org/articles/pimodem/


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Dave
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Re: Help, connecting QL to BBS

Post by Dave »

I have a static IP and would be happy to run a BBS for the QL. Would anyone like to review the software options?


afx
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Re: Help, connecting QL to BBS

Post by afx »

Derek_Stewart wrote:Which begs the question, should I get my BBS up and running again or convert it to a web site?
It would be fun to relive that old BBS.
bixio60 wrote:I have up and running Rshell (Thierry Godefroy) BBS System on my Q68 using Retro Wifi SI and you could do the same.No need of TCPSer or other PC Internet aware, considering that with Retro Wifi SI the QL is Internet aware.The Retro WIFI is giving an IP address to the QL and is able to answer to incoming (TCP/IP Internet) call.The BBS is up only for my personal use, using DynDNS I can reach it when I am abroad with my SMSQmulator running under MacOSX
Fabrizio
Fabrizio, could you give us more information about how you have configured your systems, especially Rshell?


Derek_Stewart
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Re: Help, connecting QL to BBS

Post by Derek_Stewart »

Dave wrote:I have a static IP and would be happy to run a BBS for the QL. Would anyone like to review the software options?
Hi,

Why would a static ip address be an advantage?


Regards,

Derek
Derek_Stewart
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Re: Help, connecting QL to BBS

Post by Derek_Stewart »

bixio60 wrote:Derek,
I have up and running Rshell (Thierry Godefroy) BBS System on my Q68 using Retro Wifi SI and you could do the same.
No need of TCPSer or other PC Internet aware, considering that with Retro Wifi SI the QL is Internet aware.

The Retro WIFI is giving an IP address to the QL and is able to answer to incoming (TCP/IP Internet) call.

The BBS is up only for my personal use, using DynDNS I can reach it when I am abroad with my SMSQmulator running under MacOSX

Fabrizio
Hi Fabrizio,

I forgot about Rshell, I used to use it with my BBS when I was using PBOX.

I did not like the unencrypted transfer, so did not use Rshell too much.


Regards,

Derek
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janbredenbeek
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Re: Help, connecting QL to BBS

Post by janbredenbeek »

I used Maximus on DOS (later OS/2) until 2003, it had Telnet access via Vmodem on one line (the other two or three lines dedicated to analogue modem and ISDN). I still have the files and even managed to put it back online again a few years ago using NetFoss under Windows. Unfortunately I got only a few calls and having a full-blown PC up and running 24 hours a day for this is just a waste of energy.

In 2003 I switched to MBSE under Linux but never took the effort to set it up as a full-blown BBS as there were only a few callers a month left by then already. It was a FidoNet mail-only system.
Interestingly, MBSE is still being maintained and I just got it running again on my Raspberry Pi! It integrates well with the Linux operating system and even allows for secure access using SSH. It's not ready for general release yet but watch this space...

I still have the sources of QBOX too and could put them on GitHub but the archives are rather scattered and need to be sorted out first. As it is written in assembler and not touched since 1994 the features are rather limited (no ANSI or Zmodem). I guess QBOX was the first BB system running on a QL back in 1987 (the only alternative AFAIK was a Prestel-based board). The interface to the communication device is very well documented (QSPIL) and even a direct interface to TCP/IP is possible if someone has the time and skills to write a suitable driver.

I've got a few holidays ahead this week so I'll see what I can do...

Jan.


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Dave
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Re: Help, connecting QL to BBS

Post by Dave »

Derek_Stewart wrote:Why would a static ip address be an advantage?
You want the TCP access to the BBS to be on a consistent domain/IP. I've had the same IP for eight years now. Most home connections the IP is dynamic. That requires using a service like dyndns or similar, which kind of sucks.


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