Backyard Board

[JohnPolka]

I originally posted this on the Dial-Up Bulletin Board Systems Facebook Group. Since not all of us are on Facebook, I thought I would repost it here:

 

I finally got connected to the Backyard Board this past weekend. It's a dial-up only BBS that's running on an Atari 800XL and a Supra 300 AT modem. The modem is 300 baud only. I noticed that the modem would hang up before my modem could fully negotiate the connection. My modem was also sending a caller tone which confused this very old (non-Hayes compatible) modem. I eventually found that turning off the caller tone and forcing my modem to try a 300 baud connection first does the trick. I am running a US Robotics V.92 56K baud modem. The command to turn off the caller tone is ATS35=0 and the command to try a 300 baud connection first is ATS37=3. After executing those commands, I could connect to the Backyard Board. This was certainly a trip down memory lane as it runs Bulletin Board Construction Set (BBCS), a BBS program that came out in 1985 through Antic magazine. The BBS program was plagued by frequent crashing and it soon was overtaken by the more stable BBS Express! Still, the SysOp of Backyard must have found the magic recipe to keep this BBS up. So, check it out! Its phone number is 905-895-5904. See also its entry on the Telnet BBS Guide:

 

https://www.telnetbbsguide.com/bbs/backyard-board/

-JP

 

[+x=usr(1536)]

For anyone in the Lower 48: area code 905 is the greater Toronto, Ontario region.  Make sure your phone plan has cheap calling to Canada or you could be in for a billing surprise.

 

It is nice to see another dialup-only board come (back) on line.  Telnet- / ssh-accessible BBSes are nifty, but there's something proper about having a dialup for access.

[JohnPolka]

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

For anyone in the Lower 48: area code 905 is the greater Toronto, Ontario region.  Make sure your phone plan has cheap calling to Canada or you could be in for a billing surprise.

 

It is nice to see another dialup-only board come (back) on line.  Telnet- / ssh-accessible BBSes are nifty, but there's something proper about having a dialup for access.

 

I'm using a Polycom OBI200 device over Google Voice. So, the call is free for me. Granted, it is VOIP, so the connection is not always stable. I sometimes get line noise (like back in the day) and usually get disconnected after awhile. I hope the SysOp either upgrades the modem to something with good error correction or adds Internet access. It appears he found the magic touch for keeping BBCS up, so it would be nice to share it with everyone who wants to experience BBCS!

 

-JP
 

[+x=usr(1536)]

57 minutes ago, JohnPolka said:

I'm using a Polycom OBI200 device over Google Voice. So, the call is free for me.

Heh, I'm running a stack of four Obi202s here for various things.  They actually work surprisingly well for data over VoIP.

57 minutes ago, JohnPolka said:

Granted, it is VOIP, so the connection is not always stable. I sometimes get line noise (like back in the day) and usually get disconnected after awhile.

Interesting.  Assuming the data side of things is good, you shouldn't be getting line noise.  I wonder if the remote line is POTS; that could easily account for where it may be coming in.

57 minutes ago, JohnPolka said:

I hope the SysOp either upgrades the modem to something with good error correction or adds Internet access. It appears he found the magic touch for keeping BBCS up, so it would be nice to share it with everyone who wants to experience BBCS!

There is a certain charm to dealing with line noise in this day and age, I have to admit ?