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If you have a Falcon and a Modem…..


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I am a bbs software freak - I love checking out BBS software for various (especially oddball) machines or OS.. There is a BBS program called “Hells BBS” (which you can find here via search) and I would very much love for someone who is more fortunate than me and owns a Falcon to load it up, do whatever manual config is needed, and grab screenshots of the various menus and perhaps take note of any features it may have that make it require a Falcon…

 

I’m sure I’m not the only one who is curious….

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3 hours ago, AtariPhreak said:

I am a bbs software freak - I love checking out BBS software for various (especially oddball) machines or OS.. There is a BBS program called “Hells BBS” (which you can find here via search) and I would very much love for someone who is more fortunate than me and owns a Falcon to load it up, do whatever manual config is needed, and grab screenshots of the various menus and perhaps take note of any features it may have that make it require a Falcon…

 

I’m sure I’m not the only one who is curious….

I'll take a stab at it.

 

And I can do more than just take screenshots, I have the Falcon hooked up to the video capture for the Atari BBS Community Zoom meetings.

 

Now I just have to find it.

 

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So quick first look at the documentation..... I'm not sure a Falcon is "required"... at least not anymore as even the README!! file went from

 

This is an experimental BBS software for ATARI Falcon computers! in pre84 to

This is an experimental BBS software for ATARI computers! in pre99.2.

 

In the older version originally posted, pre84, it would seem there is only one ANSIDRIV.PRG and it's probably for the Falcon and requires the Falcon's graphic modes.

 

The second, the pre99.2, has ANSI drivers for all of the systems (which are system specific, so it lends credibility to the guess it was all about the ANSI driver in pre84 (which also, the ANSIDRIV.TXT opens with ANSI-Driver V1.0 FALCON VGA by Teddy of TMC/Orion).

 

image.png.bf2881f9b4aa09446eeb3e5d5f77c60c.png

 

(Link to that thread so others don't have to search)

 

Also a little irritated I can't find GSZRZ yet, but I'm sure I will, though I think with not a lot of effort I can get it working with XYZ.TTP based on the config.

 

So this was my "can't sleep" moment... I'm going to head back into bed and tackle this on the Falcon after work (planning to cut out early anyway) and then try it on one of my Mega ST's.  If it works fine there too, I'll leave the demo up for awhile for people to call.

 

 

 

Edited by Tillek
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4 hours ago, Tillek said:

So quick first look at the documentation..... I'm not sure a Falcon is "required"... at least not anymore as even the README!! file went from

 

This is an experimental BBS software for ATARI Falcon computers! in pre84 to

This is an experimental BBS software for ATARI computers! in pre99.2.

 

In the older version originally posted, pre84, it would seem there is only one ANSIDRIV.PRG and it's probably for the Falcon and requires the Falcon's graphic modes.

 

The second, the pre99.2, has ANSI drivers for all of the systems (which are system specific, so it lends credibility to the guess it was all about the ANSI driver in pre84 (which also, the ANSIDRIV.TXT opens with ANSI-Driver V1.0 FALCON VGA by Teddy of TMC/Orion).

 

image.png.bf2881f9b4aa09446eeb3e5d5f77c60c.png

 

(Link to that thread so others don't have to search)

 

Also a little irritated I can't find GSZRZ yet, but I'm sure I will, though I think with not a lot of effort I can get it working with XYZ.TTP based on the config.

 

So this was my "can't sleep" moment... I'm going to head back into bed and tackle this on the Falcon after work (planning to cut out early anyway) and then try it on one of my Mega ST's.  If it works fine there too, I'll leave the demo up for awhile for people to call.

 

 

 

wow.. and i do log analysis/correlation as part of my job… sigh. i appreciate. your help and look forward to hearing more. i have the day off so im going fe-play again myself…

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Ok, so sorry for not posting this sooner.  Still having some trouble with some paths that certain parts of the program tell me don't exist, so I'm going to create a new CF card dedicated to the BBS and try again instead of nested in the "main" card I use.

 

I do have it answering the modem with the original WiModem232 (not the pro) and that seems to be working well.

 

Once I have the dedicated CF card version going, I'll go ahead and put the demo up.  I'll probably post other updates in the BBS club so be sure to check there later (though I'll reply here when I do).

 

For now though....

image.thumb.png.fb4938bc336547407b05f1d74a72acde.png

 

Obviously still using the author's screens. :)

 

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  • 6 months later...
13 hours ago, cloverskull said:

Hey @Tillek, were you ever able to get this up and running? I'm super curious to check this out...

 

Yes... but it's not running currently.  I can get it moved off the Falcon though and on to one of the other machines to put it up.  (Falcon us "having some work done"). :)

 

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"Also a little irritated I can't find GSZRZ yet, but I'm sure I will, though I think with not a lot of effort I can get it working with XYZ.TTP based on the config."

Did you find GSRZ? I'm fairly sure I have it on floppy but not yet backed up to other media. Will have a look for it if you haven't found it yet. Possibly already available online?

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53 minutes ago, BJolly said:

"Also a little irritated I can't find GSZRZ yet, but I'm sure I will, though I think with not a lot of effort I can get it working with XYZ.TTP based on the config."

Did you find GSRZ? I'm fairly sure I have it on floppy but not yet backed up to other media. Will have a look for it if you haven't found it yet. Possibly already available online?

If you could, that'd be great... I found an older version with a slightly different name, so if you have the latest, that'd be perfect.

 

Tried for a bit with an online search that pretty much led to dead ends.

 

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22 minutes ago, BJolly said:

Well my full version is 4.52. Meanwhile I've come across this: GSZRZ v6.6 - Vectronix.zip .

So this seems to be the basic program files needed without limitations. The various documents and installation instructions including fairly detailed HYP files are in the compressed file above. Enjoy!

GSZRZ v6.6 - Vectronix.zip 158.62 kB · 0 downloads

Thank you for both!  I want to say the one it was designed for was 3.something...   I didn't start desoldering the old Dallas chip yet, so I can put the Falcon back together and check it.

 

If you do come across the full version of 4.52 it could still be useful as I'm not really sure if they changed some things.  I know at one point it seems like they changed it from one to two executables (or the other way around) (as in  one for send, one for receive vs one that does both).

 

But yeah, I'll take a look at it and let you know.

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27 minutes ago, BJolly said:

I have found version 4.52 on floppy disk and like version 6.6 it has just one executable. Good luck I'll look forward to hear how you get on.

Thanks... if you are willing and get a chance to put that up, it'd be nice to have for no other reason than archival purposes... but thanks for what you've done as well.

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  • 2 weeks later...
6 hours ago, AtariPhreak said:

just seeing this… super cool.. i dont know what i was expecting a falcon to do BBS wise that no other software could do, but thank you so much for sharing..!!!

I'm assuming you mean just seeing that it doesn't have to run on a Falcon?  That actually was because of the ANSI driver.  Originally it was only for the Falcon (the version that originally was found) because the ANSI driver was... it shows the ANSI on the SysOp screen exactly as it appears to the user...  However, in later versions he wrote (or someone wrote) and included the drivers for other machines, so it doesn't need to run on a Falcon anymore (though I'm assuming the colors would be limited to the machine being used).

 

And I apologize for not getting this done yet.... last weekend didn't go as planned (when does it ever)... so I'll be on it this weekend. (I did finish enough of the upgrades I was working on with my Falcon to get it back to a running state so at least that part is done and I can grab the BBS off of it).

 

Edited by Tillek
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On 11/5/2024 at 8:51 PM, AtariPhreak said:

yea, i assumed it was using the horsepower of the falcon somehow - not that BBS’s require much horsepower - good to know it was just the ansi driver.. never thought i would have the answer to that…

Well, like I said... he eventually did a version of the ANSI driver for all the other systems.  And as usual, I'm behind thanks to work and the year end push to finish every project they didn't give a damn about during the year but absolutely must finish before the budget for it runs out!

 

But screenshots of it on the ST systems are coming.

 

I'm guessing the TT will be identical to the Falcon.

 

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19 hours ago, Tillek said:

Well, like I said... he eventually did a version of the ANSI driver for all the other systems.  And as usual, I'm behind thanks to work and the year end push to finish every project they didn't give a damn about during the year but absolutely must finish before the budget for it runs out!

 

But screenshots of it on the ST systems are coming.

 

I'm guessing the TT will be identical to the Falcon.

 

wow - you own a TT? I dont thikn i’ve ever seen one on ebay… beautiful machine.

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On 11/7/2024 at 7:30 PM, AtariPhreak said:

wow - you own a TT? I dont thikn i’ve ever seen one on ebay… beautiful machine.

I think I got my TT in '97 off of eBay.  Back when the prices weren't insane... I can't remember how much I paid for it, maybe 300?  I'm pretty sure the A4000 I bought a few years later was 400... Those were good times... now they each fetch a few thousand, easily...

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