*** New A8 - Atari BBS - Need thoughts ***

[WizWor]

I run mine on a PC using the emulator. (link below)

I was on your bbs and web page tonight and am impressed. I'd like to get my hands on that modified emulator and a howto guide and take this thing for a ride.

[+bf2k+]

I was on your bbs and web page tonight and am impressed. I'd like to get my hands on that modified emulator and a howto guide and take this thing for a ride.

 

The emulator I run is a800win v2.5c which I got from Tom Hunt back in 1999 or thereabouts. It is on my website (link below) under the 'files' section - (last file on the list). I have also run it un a800win plus 4.0 but I can't remember why I stayed with 2.5c (YMMV).

 

Once you get the emulator set up, you'll just need an Atari 8-bit BBS program. I currently use PRO 2.1a as my BBS program, but I have also run the freeware BBS:Express 850 - it worked fine. And I am sure that any of the old AMIS BBS programs that are interpretted basic could be used... probably ANY program could be used but I have only attempted these two.

 

Once everything is running, you just need a dynamic dns provider. I use dtdns and no-ip.com - both are free.

 

If you need any help, feel free to contact me.

[Marius]

I really don't want to disappoint anyone, but the BBS scene appears to be over.

 

I have ran BBS the Atari Inside a few times during at least 6 months, and the first weeks the visitor count goes sky-high.

 

then it dies... to about 2 visitors a week, who do not write a message at all.

 

I have posted several items about this subject on Atariage and tried 'everything' to move discussions from here to there, but it is a no-go.

 

Ofcourse I would love to encourage everyone to try it, and yes it is super-cool to run a BBS on your Atari 8bit. And the TCPIPExpress software is one of the best pieces of software I have ever seen on atari.

 

but please keep it in mind... don't expect too much of it.

 

Sorry.

Marius

[MEtalGuy66]

I think an 8-node ATARI board would draw plenty of users. It has realtime chat capabilities. And once youget them on there for the chat-room, you can expect that at least some of them would check out the message bases. Especially if some kewl threads get going in there. Having a website tied to it is a good idea too, to generate traffic. Also regular postings on ATAR AGE will keep people aware of it's existance..

[Tempest]

I didn't get onto BBS's until the PC era. Did Atari BBS's have games on them like the DOOR system for PC based BBS's? I know that Atari's couldn't support more than one person at a time (or at least I don't think they can), but were there any games like Falcon's Eye, Trade Wars, LORD, or anything like that?

 

Tempest

[+bf2k+]

I didn't get onto BBS's until the PC era. Did Atari BBS's have games on them like the DOOR system for PC based BBS's? I know that Atari's couldn't support more than one person at a time (or at least I don't think they can), but were there any games like Falcon's Eye, Trade Wars, LORD, or anything like that?

 

Tempest

 

Some of the BBS's had ability to run external games and programs. PRO can do this to a certain extent and I think Carina and Oasis could also (although I have no personal experience with either of those BBS's so I could be wrong).

 

Way back in the good old days, Chris King (Orion Micro Systems) wrote a text game to run on BBS:Express 850 called "The Coal Mines of Midlothian". While this is not a door, it was a pretty good little online game which demonstrated the power of BBS:Express since the game was written entirely using ATASCII graphics and the built-in BBS Menu/Text functions. A couple of years ago, I modified this game to work with PRO 2.1a and enhanced the original game with new "features" like some hidden doors etc. It's playable on my BBS (link below) now to ATASCII users. ASCII users will have problems with the graphics.

[Bumzyman]

I think an 8-node ATARI board would draw plenty of users. It has real time chat capabilities. And once you get them on there for the chat-room, you can expect that at least some of them would check out the message bases. Especially if some kewl threads get going in there. Having a website tied to it is a good idea too, to generate traffic. Also regular postings on ATARI AGE will keep people aware of it's existence..

I didn't get onto BBS's until the PC era. Did Atari BBS's have games on them like the DOOR system for PC based BBS's? I know that Atari's couldn't support more than one person at a time (or at least I don't think they can), but were there any games like Falcon's Eye, Trade Wars, LORD, or anything like that?

Tempest

Some of the BBS's had ability to run external games and programs. PRO can do this to a certain extent and I think Carina and Oasis could also (although I have no personal experience with either of those BBS's so I could be wrong).

 

Chat is a big draw, I remember back in the days when Apple II BBS's had multiple serial ports and usually daisy chained multiple sites together for chatting sort of like a channel in todays IRC networks. I think it was called DDIAL, yup found a link on it here. I loved those things! Now, thinking out loud here, If there was a way to create a tcl script to run in an eggdrop or similar bot on IRC to relay traffic to and from the chat area of the BBS, that would be awesome. I will have to look in to that at some point.

 

Online games would be the other big attraction. I haven't seen any multi-node enabled games ever but I imagine it could be done. Meanwhile, I will try to get a hold of every game that runs in TCPIP Express and make them available to callers. When I finally gave in to the PC age and moved my BBS from the ST to a PC I ran PCBoard and the online games section was the only real section that got used. I particularly liked this one game called Assassin which was a text based RPG.

 

All of this is just for fun anyway since the Internet has made BBS's obsolete long ago.

[Tempest]

All of this is just for fun anyway since the Internet has made BBS's obsolete long ago.

 

Chat has obviously been made obsolete, but there's still something about playing games on a BBS that the internet can't replicate. The thrill of trying to dial in before the other guy so you can attack him first, or staying up until midnight so you can get your new set of turns. Good times...

 

Tempest

[doctorclu]

So this BBS online yet? I wanna try it!

[Bumzyman]

So this BBS online yet? I wanna try it!

 

Mine isn't up yet, hopefully by this Summer.

 

The OP of this thread tcropper is looking for advice on setting his up, not sure what his time frame is though.

 

tcropper: I would suggest getting a dedicated phone number for the BBS if your determined to put it on the PSTN. Otherwise, as was said by another poster, you will get calls at all hours.

[tcropper]

Everyone...Don't know what the exact timeframe is. I am still working on the newsletter and calling everyone to verify who is still around. I also found out that the printer I want is gonna cost me $75 or so for the printer and shipping from B&C computervisions. An XMM801. At any rate the newsletter should be out by the end of the month, and the BBS might have to wait until my fund$ are available next month. (printer this month, modem next month unless anyone has a modem).

[Bumzyman]

Everyone...Don't know what the exact timeframe is. I am still working on the newsletter and calling everyone to verify who is still around. I also found out that the printer I want is gonna cost me $75 or so for the printer and shipping from B&C computervisions. An XMM801. At any rate the newsletter should be out by the end of the month, and the BBS might have to wait until my fund$ are available next month. (printer this month, modem next month unless anyone has a modem).

 

If you've got an 850 or PR: interface handy, I have a ton of US Robotics Sportster modems laying around. PM me with your address and I'll send you a couple. If you don't have an 850 or PR: then I might be able to set you up with some sort of modem that connects directly to the Atari like a Volksmodem or a 1030. FYI, I'm in the US so all the power supplies I have are 115v.

Edited April 13, 2008 by Bumzyman