Are there Any Old Fashion Dial Up BBS's Left?

[+x=usr(1536)]

16 hours ago, thanatos said:

 

Interesting, several years ago (probably 2017) I tried to call with a modem on my Tandy CoCo 3 connected to my Ooma to call Fozztexx's BBS from the /r/retrobattlestations reddit.  I would get a connection, but too much garbage characters in between that I couldn't even create an account or login.  Tried all 300/1200/2400 baud, and got too much garbage with all of them.  But the modem did manage to make an initial connection.

 

Haven't tried anything since then, I figured the Ooma line just wasn't good enough.

I've had excellent results both calling and answering with an Obihai 202 Google Voice appliance over the past several years.  They're no longer available and are now selling for stupid money when they do crop up, but the Obihai 2182 handset has pretty much the exact same functionality - it just does it in a phone form factor rather than that of a box.

 

Late edit: I was wrong about the 2182's capabilities.  More details here.

 

For anyone wondering, these devices effectively let you turn a Google Voice number into a landline.  Apart from the one-time cost of the unit, this makes BBSing over VoIP effectively free if you sign up for a Google Voice number.

[+x=usr(1536)]

37 minutes ago, Tillek said:

Can't speak for higher baud rates, but got a clear connection to SFHQ at (ok, my memory fails me, it was 1200 or 2400) with a USR courier...  (This was a few weeks ago).

FWIW, using Google Voice, I've been able to consistently connect at 9600bps just about anywhere that supports it for fax or data.  I've even had a few at 14.4Kbps, but really do consider them to be outliers.

 

These numbers are from SyncTerm, which really does make life easier for doing things like this.  Also adding my recommendation in favour of it.

[+thanatos]

9 minutes ago, x=usr(1536) said:

I've had excellent results both calling and answering with an Obihai 202 Google Voice appliance over the past several years.  They're no longer available and are now selling for stupid money when they do crop up, but the Obihai 2182 handset has pretty much the exact same functionality - it just does it in a phone form factor rather than that of a box.

 

For anyone wondering, these devices effectively let you turn a Google Voice number into a landline.  Apart from the one-time cost of the unit, this makes BBSing over VoIP effectively free if you sign up for a Google Voice number.

 

So I would plug the computer modem port into the handset port of that Obihai device?  (Currently looking at all its ports on the Amazon link),  I already have a Google Voice number, so this could be cool to set up.  How would auto-dial or answer work?  I have some fleeting ambition of maybe doing a CoCo BBS someday, but I know I'm probably not going to really go through the effort of doing it. 

 

[+x=usr(1536)]

Before I answer your question: I do have one of these sitting on my desk at the office, but I just use it as a straight-up desk phone via SIP.  Having said that, it's similar enough to the Obi202 appliance that I think I can answer your questions.

15 hours ago, thanatos said:

So I would plug the computer modem port into the handset port of that Obihai device?  (Currently looking at all its ports on the Amazon link),

Close - there's a standard RJ-11 port on the back that's labelled, "LINE".  That's the one you'd plug into.

 

Late edit: I was wrong about that, at least as far as the Obi2182 goes  It appears as though only the appliances have line ports.  Details here.

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I already have a Google Voice number, so this could be cool to set up.

Check out obitalk.com for an idea of how to cloud-manage the device.  You don't have to put it under cloud management, but it does make doing the initial configuration much easier.

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How would auto-dial or answer work?

It all depends on call routing.

 

Auto-dialled numbers being outbound calls, you'd configure the line (RJ-11) port to route calls via your Google Voice account.

 

For auto-answer, you'd route inbound calls to your Google Voice number to the line port.

 

IIRC, this is how it's set up by default once you configure your first Google Voice account on the device.  I can double-check this tomorrow when I'm back in the office, but am pretty certain that this is correct.

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I have some fleeting ambition of maybe doing a CoCo BBS someday, but I know I'm probably not going to really go through the effort of doing it. 

The BBS I've run over Google Voice has spent more time being down than up ever since I started the effort in about 2013.  Thankfully, the number hasn't been published anywhere that I recall, so I don't have to endure the embarrassment of my shame at knowing how long it's taken me to rebuild it becoming public

[+x=usr(1536)]

@thanatos: I just took a look at the Amazon pictures, and I'm not 100% certain that the shots of the rear of the phone match what's on the ones that we have.  Let me check on them tomorrow and I'll let you know what's up with how to connect a modem - it's been a few months since they were installed, so my memory's a bit hazy on what is and isn't on there right now.

 

The Obi202 will definitely do what you want, but, again, good luck finding one that isn't beat half to death or that doesn't cost an arm and a leg.

[Tillek]

I do have an Obi202 but never tried actually using it.  I've heard the * codes can be a little hit and miss to figure out, but if that's not your experience, than that's a good sign.

 

I do seem to remember something about the Obi202 potentially not working with Google Voice in the near future? (But I could be having Monday morning issues).

 

I'll see if I can find that.  The Ooma device wasn't expensive, but you should look up cases of people being hit with a "non-residential use charge" that seems to be bogus.  Not sure how recent/relevant that is though but I feel it would be wrong not to mention it.

 

[Tillek]

But again, I highly recommend (to everyone) before spending any time or money on buying anything, just download SyncTerm (PC, Mac and Linux among others if I recall) and give the BBS's a spin first.

 

That way if you don't get the kick out of it you were expecting, you're not going hate yourself for spending all that money and time.

[+x=usr(1536)]

4 hours ago, Tillek said:

I do have an Obi202 but never tried actually using it.  I've heard the * codes can be a little hit and miss to figure out, but if that's not your experience, than that's a good sign.

The nice thing about the star codes is that they're really not necessary for day-to-day usage.  About the only thing I ever do with them is register the device for cloud management - punch in the appropriate star code, take down the PIN that it'll read back to you, enter the PIN in the cloud console, device is added and ready to configure.  Then again, my use case for these devices is not quite what the manufacturer intended them for - I use them to connnect Google Voice accounts to PBXes that don't have native Google Voice support.

4 hours ago, Tillek said:

I do seem to remember something about the Obi202 potentially not working with Google Voice in the near future? (But I could be having Monday morning issues).

Google shut down the XMPP-based version of Google Voice about three years ago (IIRC).  Obi202s and other devices that hadn't been upgraded to firmware version somethingorother would cease to work with Google Voice, but were still usable for SIP.  As long as your device is running the current firmware, you should be fine.

 

@thanatos: I'm in the office now and have looked at the Obi2182s we have here.  Good thing I did, because it appears as though I was smoking the crack rock when I said that they had RJ-11 ports on them that were designed to accept a handset, fax machine, modem, etc..  They don't.  They do support Google Voice and SIP accounts, but there's no way to directly connect an analogue telephony device to them.

 

Frankly, if you're looking at Google Voice, your best bet is likely to be the Obihai Obi200 adapter.  This will let you connect a modem and works pretty much exactly the same as the no-longer-available Obi202, but with only one analogue line instead of two.

[Tillek]

I just looked at mine again, and it's an OBI200 not a 202.

 

[+x=usr(1536)]

2 hours ago, Tillek said:

I just looked at mine again, and it's an OBI200 not a 202.

 

Should be fine as long as the firmware is up to date.

[Tillek]

Well, like I said, I'll probably stick to the OOMA when I want to actually use a modem....

 

But again, I want to stress... when it comes to Atari BBS's, there was only one that I know of that ONLY was dialup and as far as we've been able to tell, this BBS is recently offline and the number disconnected.  All the others CAN be reached by dialup using the modem pool but are actually TELNET (well, technically, RAW), so if you actually have an 850 or a P:R:C already, don't bother with any of this.  Get  a WiModem232 or Lantronix or some other RS232 -> Telnet solution.  You'll save yourself a LOT of headache.  However, if all you have is a 1050, 835 or SX212 connected through SIO (or some other non-850/P:R:C solution) then sure... OBI or OOMA might be your shot on real hardware BBSing.

 

But still, even then.... try  before you buy with SyncTerm.

[Tillek]

3 hours ago, x=usr(1536) said:

Should be fine as long as the firmware is up to date.

... and again, not to be rude.  I run an Atari BBS (up until recently, running two)... both on real hardware... and call them everyday.  Literally.  Anything you can do to help others out is great... but I'm actually here to provide advice, not seek it.

 

[+x=usr(1536)]

44 minutes ago, Tillek said:

... and again, not to be rude.  I run an Atari BBS (up until recently, running two)... both on real hardware... and call them everyday.  Literally.  Anything you can do to help others out is great... but I'm actually here to provide advice, not seek it.

 

And not to be rude either, but I have been running data over VoIP for quite some time - specifically using Obihai devices and Google Voice (as well as straight SIP providers) to do it on a dial-in basis.  You mentioned that you have an Obi200; I replied.

 

I'm not understanding what the problem is.  Have I committed some sort of advice-providing faux pas?  As far as I'm aware, no-one has a monopoly on doing so.

[Tillek]

13 hours ago, x=usr(1536) said:

And not to be rude either, but I have been running data over VoIP for quite some time - specifically using Obihai devices and Google Voice (as well as straight SIP providers) to do it on a dial-in basis.  You mentioned that you have an Obi200; I replied.

 

I'm not understanding what the problem is.  Have I committed some sort of advice-providing faux pas?  As far as I'm aware, no-one has a monopoly on doing so.

Oh no.. not at all... I just wanted to make it clear I really wasn't looking to actually change up my setup or really have any questions about it.  I'm sure the information is welcome.

 

So of course the information on the Obi might be helpful to others... I just don't intend to use it anytime soon.

[rcamp48]

I am going to work on Puff BBS with Altirra and a set of Modems, I have 6 or 7 of them, and a few phone lines so it will be actually running dial up for old times sake, sigh: a number of you have wanted me to get off FXEP and continue with Puff BBS , so thats what I am doing.

 

Here are the things that I have found out, the .MOD files are readable but with Basic XE, I can use Basic XE to load them and write them back out as Atari Basic files but somewhere in AA was the code for the black box or whatever Puff used ... I need that for Altirra, also has anyone succeeded in getting Altirra to work with dial up modems? I would love to hear about this if you have.

 

Russ