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DarkForce! BBS Info/News/Prizes


DarkLord

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  • 4 months later...
  • 1 month later...
  • 3 months later...

Just letting everyone know that, after a lot of work, 40 column support

has been enabled at The DarkForce! BBS.

 

We're in the very early stages (pre-pre-pre alpha?) so expect any number

of things to go wrong, but for better or worse, we're there.

 

If any anomalies, bugs, errors, or glitches are encountered, please let me

know via e-mail, PM or here. Screenshots would help, if possible. I'll look

any reports over as they come in and try to fix things ASAP.

 

Also, any advice, comments, complaints, criticisms, suggestions, or random thoughts

will be gratefully received.

 

Thanks for supporting us for all these years everyone, appreciated.  :)

 

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Thanks for the pictures, appreciated.

 

Looks like there's still work to be done there.

 

The upper left picture is the main menu. It looks like it's scrolling off the top

of the screen. Can't 20-22 rows fit on an 8bit screen?

 

That bottom left screen - I have no idea what's going on there.

 

Thanks...

 

[EDIT] Okay, after looking those pictures over some more it looks like some of them were 80 column pictures.

This suggests that it wasn't fully switched over to 40 column mode. Please tell us what happens the *next*

time you logon in 40 column mode (and hadn't logged back in in 80 column mode in between). Thanks!

 

Edited by DarkLord
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9 hours ago, DarkLord said:

I was told that a few of the 8bit comms packages support ANSI.

 

Has anyone tried the 40 column support in ANSI mode?

 

Thanks...

 

PS ATM, we support ASCII, VT52, and ANSI.

 

Not sure that any of the ANSI supporting terms actually support 40 col too.

 

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6 hours ago, Tillek said:

Not sure that any of the ANSI supporting terms actually support 40 col too.

 

 

Ah, that's interesting. So...potentially...the hours and hours I spent making 40 column ANSI

screens was absolutely and totally useless... Great.   :)

 

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Would a 40 column ANSI terminal be more viable on the Atari 8 bit because it would help more naturally limit the number of colors on a given line?

Would a color VT52 terminal be even better since that's already closer to the native 8 bit display ability?

 

Can't say having the choice is bad at all, it could be a helpful format.

 

Serial baud rate limits give an advantage to 80 column processing for a complex emulation. There is a trade off involved. 'Screen at a time ANSI' works nicely on the 8 bit, but currently scrolling ANSI really seems to tax things.

Screen scrolling frequency increases with less columns and really make the process labor but might be refactored to make that more efficient in that format but I still think there is a tight trade off here.

 

With the advent of faster devices with network connection becoming more popular and viable on the 8 bit, it's probably time to revisit such terminals. Not so convinced that a real time stream preprocessing conversion to something the Atari can digest in a more light weight fashion couldn't be done either.

 

Edited by _The Doctor__
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Well, I'm already offering VT52 in 40 columns for the 8bit crowd as well. It was also my understanding that

some 8bit comms packages support VT52 also.

 

I fully agree with the increased capabilities of modern era 8bits - seems like new things are being added all

the time. I feel the same about my ST's. It's just a really good time to be a retro fan.   :)

 

Here's ANSI and VT52 screenshots in 40 columns from DarkForce!...Be a real shame if some 8bit comms

software couldn't show them. 

 

778424646_DarkForce!-ANSI-40c.JPG.6cc7c802229d766a94626bd47186fa2b.JPGDarkForce!-VT52-40c.JPG.2494a3597a6f8f6a9f83cb6263534084.JPG

 

 

 

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  • 3 months later...

This month, June 2023, the DarkForce! BBS is giving away:

 

A WiModem232! "The WiModem232 is an internet modem for any

computer with a RS-232 interface port that emulates a standard

Hayes compatible modem. Just plug the WiModem232 into the

"serial" port and connect to BBS's all over the world or run a BBS

of your own!"

 

More details here:

 

https://tinyurl.com/4abxpuva

 

It's a wonderful device. Good luck to all, and thanks for calling!  :)

 

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On 1/31/2023 at 1:52 PM, DarkLord said:

The upper left picture is the main menu. It looks like it's scrolling off the top

of the screen. Can't 20-22 rows fit on an 8bit screen?

 

The Atari 8 normally does 24 rows (25 with some 'hocus pocus').  I count 25 on your upper left screen. (23 usable for display since the term program is consuming the two top lines.)

Edited by bf2k+
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On 2/2/2023 at 10:23 AM, DarkLord said:

Ah, that's interesting. So...potentially...the hours and hours I spent making 40 column ANSI

screens was absolutely and totally useless... Great.   :)

 

I think that was mentioned in one of the meetings... but I could be wrong. :)

 

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11 hours ago, bf2k+ said:

The Atari 8 normally does 24 rows (25 with some 'hocus pocus').  I count 25 on your upper left screen. (23 usable for display since the term program is consuming the two top lines.)

 

Thanks!

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

Here is the lucky winner for June 2023 at The DarkForce! BBS:

 

June 2023

 

1. Questor wins a WiModem232!

 

-------------------------------------------------------------

 

Congratulations to our winner, and thanks to all our callers!

 

:)

 

PS Questor, I need your actual physical address.

 

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  • 5 months later...

This month, December 2023, the DarkForce! BBS is giving away:

 

A FujiNet...!

 

It's a wonderful device. Good luck to all, and thanks for calling!  :)


Fujinet Professional (Lotharek version):

Some details:

metal case, grey powder coated
illuminated ATARI logo at top of case
external WIFI/BT antenna
2 sio ports
USB-C for firmware upgrade  / optional power supply for 1200xl/
4 rubber legs
based on  ver 1.7 : https://github.com/FujiNetWIFI/

 

https://lotharek.pl/productdetail.php?id=380

 

fuji1.thumb.jpg.70faa4e0e9169f4916b3e6281ca6df3b.jpg

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

Here is the lucky winner for December 2023 at The DarkForce! BBS:

 

December 2023

 

1. OBUing wins a FujiNet Pro!

 

-------------------------------------------------------------

 

Congratulations to our winner, and thanks to all our callers!

 

:)

 

PS OBUing, I need your actual physical address.

 

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