ATARDIS BBS beta version

[Synthpopalooza]

Back in the 1990's I tried to write a BBS program which would allow people with Commodore 64 terms and ANSI terms to dial up, and see graphics in their own format. After this program being rescued from a stack of floppies in my basebemt, I am posting ATARDIS BBS, written in TurboBASIC.

 

So far, all I have on it is the init programs (userbase, access levels, message forums) and the only thing you can do on here is post messages and send e-mails. It also has a nice threaded message capability like the old Color 64 BBSes. The access levels, daily maintenance, time limits are fully functional.

 

The program is set up for the SX-121 modem and has a R:handler, so it would probably need to be modified for other setups or for the emulator.

 

The program expects the blank.atr to be in drive 2, and you switch between atardisbbs-a (program) and b (data) alot in drive 1.

 

Still to do: File menu, including file downloads/uploads ... does anyone have any documentation on X-Ymodem usage in BASIC?

 

Ultimately, I want to run games ... can online games be run from within BASIC?

 

Also, there is a custom ML routine for the BBS clock ... how would be the best way to run it from the RTIME8 clock?

 

Looking for people to beta test this too, especially the different terminal emulations ... and any ideas how I can set this up to run on the emulator where people can telnet in?

ATARDIS_BBS.zip

[+bf2k+]

Looking for people to beta test this too, especially the different terminal emulations ... and any ideas how I can set this up to run on the emulator where people can telnet in?

 

I'll look into getting it running on the emulator as soon as I get a chance. You could always use the Z: handler for the clock. Carina uses that.

 

You could get the 'BBS on a Stick - Carina version' if you want to see how Carina handles the clock... it's on my website below.

[Lord Cygnus]

Back in the 1990's I tried to write a BBS program which would allow people with Commodore 64 terms and ANSI terms to dial up, and see graphics in their own format. After this program being rescued from a stack of floppies in my basebemt, I am posting ATARDIS BBS, written in TurboBASIC.

 

So far, all I have on it is the init programs (userbase, access levels, message forums) and the only thing you can do on here is post messages and send e-mails. It also has a nice threaded message capability like the old Color 64 BBSes. The access levels, daily maintenance, time limits are fully functional.

 

The program is set up for the SX-121 modem and has a R:handler, so it would probably need to be modified for other setups or for the emulator.

 

The program expects the blank.atr to be in drive 2, and you switch between atardisbbs-a (program) and b (data) alot in drive 1.

 

Still to do: File menu, including file downloads/uploads ... does anyone have any documentation on X-Ymodem usage in BASIC?

 

Ultimately, I want to run games ... can online games be run from within BASIC?

 

Also, there is a custom ML routine for the BBS clock ... how would be the best way to run it from the RTIME8 clock?

 

Looking for people to beta test this too, especially the different terminal emulations ... and any ideas how I can set this up to run on the emulator where people can telnet in?

 

Are you going to have the dial up option as well? I would like to call in to your BBS. Is it in ATASCII?

 

--

Lord Cygnus

[doctorclu]

Ditto that! I know Abdul can get you going, and when he does, let us know what the IP or URL is there to get to the BBS.

 

Doc Clu

[doctor_x]

this is kick ass.. thanks for posting.

[Synthpopalooza]

Well, if this thing ever gets running, it won't be dialup ... telnet only.

 

But it will be ATASCII, ANSI, and hopefully PETASCII (commodore 64) as well .... as this program was designed to send all three formats. I never fully got to test out the PETASCII feature tho. This is all still extremely BETA stuff. We will see tho. Anyone who wants to code up a file transfer function or anything else, please ... add on to it!

[+bf2k+]

For internet usage file xfers, you'd need some type of streaming protocol (like zModem) and what Atari terminal supports that? I have only been able to get limited success across the internet using YModem & Xmodem-1k transferring from my PRO BBS to a PC terminal program in ASCII or ANSI mode.

 

hmmm.. maybe I need to try real a8 hardware on the client side...

[+Stephen]

For internet usage file xfers, you'd need some type of streaming protocol (like zModem) and what Atari terminal supports that? I have only been able to get limited success across the internet using YModem & Xmodem-1k transferring from my PRO BBS to a PC terminal program in ASCII or ANSI mode.

 

hmmm.. maybe I need to try real a8 hardware on the client side...

I'm fairly certain that Ice-T XE supports Z-Modem downloads. There is no ability to upload (except in ASCII) via Ice-T however.

 

Stephen Anderson

[+bf2k+]

For internet usage file xfers, you'd need some type of streaming protocol (like zModem) and what Atari terminal supports that? I have only been able to get limited success across the internet using YModem & Xmodem-1k transferring from my PRO BBS to a PC terminal program in ASCII or ANSI mode.

 

hmmm.. maybe I need to try real a8 hardware on the client side...

I'm fairly certain that Ice-T XE supports Z-Modem downloads. There is no ability to upload (except in ASCII) via Ice-T however.

 

Stephen Anderson

 

Yes but what BBS supports it?

[Synthpopalooza]

For internet usage file xfers, you'd need some type of streaming protocol (like zModem) and what Atari terminal supports that? I have only been able to get limited success across the internet using YModem & Xmodem-1k transferring from my PRO BBS to a PC terminal program in ASCII or ANSI mode.

 

hmmm.. maybe I need to try real a8 hardware on the client side...

 

I have a protocol called ATZMODEM on one of those disks I sent up ... might be one of the purple ones.

 

I think also Bobterm supports it?

[doctorclu]

So what's the telnet address?

[+Stephen]

For internet usage file xfers, you'd need some type of streaming protocol (like zModem) and what Atari terminal supports that? I have only been able to get limited success across the internet using YModem & Xmodem-1k transferring from my PRO BBS to a PC terminal program in ASCII or ANSI mode.

 

hmmm.. maybe I need to try real a8 hardware on the client side...

I'm fairly certain that Ice-T XE supports Z-Modem downloads. There is no ability to upload (except in ASCII) via Ice-T however.

 

Stephen Anderson

 

Yes but what BBS supports it?

Darkforce BBS lets you queue multiple files for download via the Z-modem protocol.

 

Stephen Anderson

[+bf2k+]

For internet usage file xfers, you'd need some type of streaming protocol (like zModem) and what Atari terminal supports that? I have only been able to get limited success across the internet using YModem & Xmodem-1k transferring from my PRO BBS to a PC terminal program in ASCII or ANSI mode.

 

hmmm.. maybe I need to try real a8 hardware on the client side...

I'm fairly certain that Ice-T XE supports Z-Modem downloads. There is no ability to upload (except in ASCII) via Ice-T however.

 

Stephen Anderson

 

Yes but what BBS supports it?

Darkforce BBS lets you queue multiple files for download via the Z-modem protocol.

 

Stephen Anderson

 

I should be clear... I am talking about Atari 8-bit BBSes here.

[Synthpopalooza]

Link to ATZMODEM:

 

ftp://ftp.pigwa.net/stuff/mirror/ftp.spudster.org/pub/Atari/CTH/Terminal_Programs/ATZMOD12.ARC

 

I think it's download only tho. There is currently no way to upload Z-modem on an Atari 8-bit, so ATZ would only be useful if you were getting a file from a non-Atari 8-bit BBS, I think.

[Synthpopalooza]

I just tried running ATARDIS on the emulator through telnet ... nothing happens on inbound connections. Looks like the code will need to be modded.

 

Also, bf2k: If you are testing this out on your end, could you also get CGTERM (it's a C=64 telnet) and try it out on that too to see if it works? Thanks!

[doctorclu]

I just tried running ATARDIS on the emulator through telnet ... nothing happens on inbound connections. Looks like the code will need to be modded.

 

Also, bf2k: If you are testing this out on your end, could you also get CGTERM (it's a C=64 telnet) and try it out on that too to see if it works? Thanks!

 

Well good to hear this is still in the works. Let me know when there is an IP to call.

[Kyle22]

NecroBump

 

Has any progress been made yet? I'm pulling my hair out trying to figure out the clock stuff. It's simple to read from SDX:

 

Day, Month, Year, Hour, Min, Sec. are done by day=peek(dpeek(10)+13):month=peek(dpeek(10)+14), etc.

 

The BBS clock routine looks like it stores the data (hour, for example) as H1 and H2, where H1=hour-(hour mod 10), and h2=hour mod 10. The address of this data is read from a disk file D:CLOCK.

 

I have made some changes, but it still logs me back off immediately with a time expired message. I mean locally, I haven't even began to explore the remote stuff yet.

 

The date is handled differently from the time, and I think it is internally handled by the midnight maintenance routine (which I haven't fully examined yet.)

 

Most of the clock stuff seems to be in lines 4781 to 4786.

 

Removing all the un-necessary code should free up some RAM for more useful stuff.

 

My ultimate goal is to get it to compile (and link). I'll strip the PETSCII stuff out to make more free RAM, so we can avoid deleting the init routine lines above 30000 because I don't believe the compiler allows the line delete command.

[Synthpopalooza]

Honestly, I haven't really even looked at it much since then ... when I wrote this in the early 90's I didn't have access to SpartaDos so I used a page 6 clock routine that I found in a Compute! magazine somewhere. Not sure how it reads the time, but I know it's based on the RTCLOK internal timer.

 

From memory (bad as mine is) the midnight routines basically log out the user, then perform maintenance on the user database, resetting everyone's time. Different users, depending on their level settings, can have differing amounts of time they are allowed to be online per day, and it is this which gets reset at midnight.

 

The compiler, indeed, does not allow for DEL lines. There may be other wacky stuff in the code too. I'll have a look at it over the next few and see what comes back to me from memory.

[Kyle22]

Thanks so much, I've been looking for TurboBASIC BBS code for years. The BXL and BXE ones are just too complicated to translate (easily, anyway).

[Kyle22]

I removed the offending line 30260 DEL 30000,30259 and it compiled without error. It seems to add yet another issue, though. It won't let me sign in as NEW, it rejects my password every time and locks up.

 

It is a very good sign that it got this far compiled and linked as a standalone exe.

 

I'll keep working on it, but I can always use help from others

 

Screenshot of compiled atardis.exe running attached. I changed the now useless system time message to show free RAM.

 

[+bf2k+]

What are you compiling it with? TB?

 

Does TB compile to stand-alone exe?

[Kyle22]

Use TB Compiler, then Linker to make .EXE file.

[+bf2k+]

I am going to have to try TB. I have never used it myself but I understand it is superior to Atari Basic.

 

I didn't know there was a BBS program written in Turbobasic.

[Kyle22]

I am going to have to try TB. I have never used it myself but I understand it is superior to Atari Basic.

 

I didn't know there was a BBS program written in Turbobasic.

It is superior, and much faster, especially compiled. It contains many of the BXL/BXE type commands such as dpeek, dpoke, but the string manipulation commands are different between TB and the OSS BASICs.

 

I didn't know about the BBS until today, just browsing around, Glad I found it, I have been looking for a TB BBS program to customize (and compile) for years

 

Attached is Turbo-BASIC XL with Compiler and Linker. I'm NOT sure which version this is... There is one for PAL, and one for NTSC. The time functions are off if you use the wrong one. There are patches available to make the change, but I can't locate them right now.

 

I'm thinking this is the PAL one.

 

Works great with SDX if you USE BANKED in your CONFIG.SYS and leave OSRAM free.

.

TBXL15.zip

[Synthpopalooza]

I removed the offending line 30260 DEL 30000,30259 and it compiled without error. It seems to add yet another issue, though. It won't let me sign in as NEW, it rejects my password every time and locks up.

 

It is a very good sign that it got this far compiled and linked as a standalone exe.

 

I'll keep working on it, but I can always use help from others

 

Screenshot of compiled atardis.exe running attached. I changed the now useless system time message to show free RAM.

 

 

Send me the code, I will have a look and see what is wrong. When typing "NEW" it should skip the password and go straight to new user registration. I think also if you enter "0" as the user number, you can log on as new user, the system is like the WWIV BBS on PC, in that it will accept either username or your user number as a login.

 

 

I didn't know there was a BBS program written in Turbobasic.

 

Yeah, I wrote it back in the late 80's, but I never really got it to go past the beta stage. I was able to get it to do a basic message system and e-mail, and a userbase, but nothing more. To this day it has never been used as a real BBS. I tried to get some old Commodore 64 BBS friends of mine to call it once and test out the PETSCII function, but it didn't connect. So there are probably a lot of bugs in it.

 

This BBS program was heavily influenced by the WWIV BBS (on PC) insofar as the commands go, and the Color 64 BBSes, in that it uses a threaded message system. It will systematically scan through new posts on the board as the user gets to them, and follows the discussion thread to the end before jumping to the next one. This function also saw my only, to date, usage of the NOTE and POINT commands. I still honestly don't remember how that part works, so if you can figure it out, great. It has been so long.

 

It does not have a file system, or door games, or anything else currently, just a public message system, and a rudimentary sysop chat function. And, being a big Doctor Who fan at the time (my old BBS handle was Dr. Who VII) I thought ATARDIS was a clever play on that.

 

I actually have another copy of this on 5.25" floppy that might actually be a more advanced version. I will try to see if I can get that .ATR'd up and sent for you to have a look at. It would be a thrill to me for someone to actually finish this project about 30 years later and make it fully functional!

Edited March 6, 2015 by Synthpopalooza