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Telnet Access For VCF

Fido technology network

Fido technology network

Another option would be to run a web forum in parallel with a fido technology network. So that we could connect with our vintage computers to a bbs carrying the network, either by dial-up or telnet, and then using a point system (which I gather wasn't so common in the US), or QWK, download and reply to messages in the forum.

The moderation would work the same. Obviously it would mean writing a custom web forum to be able to handle this, but it wouldn't be that difficult.
 
frozenfire75i said:
Well, I don't wish to fragment things eathier... I was just merely thinking of of an extenstion of this fourm. like someone could post on the web part and it would apper on both BBS and web or post on the bbs and it post on the web also.

But who knows maybe it's a bad ideal after all, to network our vintage systems and enjoy them even more!
Click to expand...

I was actually thinking of the exact same thing the other day. Not that I have any idea how to do it, but in theory it shouldn't be that hard to implement. Could work the same way a BBS used to dial in to pickup and post to USENET and FidoNet (and all the other network) feeds....except just grab them off this web server and convert to whatever format your given BBS software uses. If it was successful, maybe other vintage computing/gaming forums would be interested in making their threads available as well and instead of "scattering", all these forums would be somewhat unified and fully readable by any machine capable of using telnet - so pretty much anything from the last 30+ years!

I miss those days, and I think this would give a lot of actual use to antiquated machines in a modern environment. Very cool idea! Anyone smarter than me care to wager how difficult such a system might be to get going?
 
I agree with the FidoNet idea. A BBS I belong to allows internet-based graphical access, Telnet access, and dial-up access (in more of BBS form). It's pretty cool. I don't know the details of how everything works, but the sysop is nice and would probably tell me. The most I know is it is run on a PII running Windows NT and WinServer v6.3. Lowest connect rate is 600 baud, IIRC. Terribly slow at that, but VERY acceptable at 1200.

I've been poking at this for about a year now, I'm happy we're all finally banding together and brainstorming. I don't think the modem thing will be an issue. 1200 baud is acceptable as I said earlier, even when loading graphics(text based, color) on screen with ANSI, VT100, or no emulation.

There are hundreds of different areas to post in via FidoNet, GatorNet, UseNet, etc, and it is all pretty easy to navigate. The BBS I've mentioned has a feature so it only shows as much as it can on your screen then pauses, so I'm sure we could do it here, too.

As for the line-editor issue, we don't HAVE to use line-editing. The BBS I belong to allows full-page editing, and when you are finished you just press [ESC] twice. My 4.77MHz IBM 5150 runs it great, even better on the 8MHz AT&T PC 6300.

Just in case anyone wants to check it out, let me give the info for accessing this BBS. ANSI/VT100 or better is required for color on Telnet or the traditional dial-up BBS.

Telnet to or internet to rdfig.net port 23
Dial in to: 972-329-0781

--Jack
 
I know there is orther telnet and dial-up BBS out there... But I am thinking about one for the vintage computer... As far as I know this is the biggest and most active "hang out" for vintage computers!




Yzzerdd said:
I agree with the FidoNet idea. A BBS I belong to allows internet-based graphical access, Telnet access, and dial-up access (in more of BBS form). It's pretty cool. I don't know the details of how everything works, but the sysop is nice and would probably tell me. The most I know is it is run on a PII running Windows NT and WinServer v6.3. Lowest connect rate is 600 baud, IIRC. Terribly slow at that, but VERY acceptable at 1200.

I've been poking at this for about a year now, I'm happy we're all finally banding together and brainstorming. I don't think the modem thing will be an issue. 1200 baud is acceptable as I said earlier, even when loading graphics(text based, color) on screen with ANSI, VT100, or no emulation.

There are hundreds of different areas to post in via FidoNet, GatorNet, UseNet, etc, and it is all pretty easy to navigate. The BBS I've mentioned has a feature so it only shows as much as it can on your screen then pauses, so I'm sure we could do it here, too.

As for the line-editor issue, we don't HAVE to use line-editing. The BBS I belong to allows full-page editing, and when you are finished you just press [ESC] twice. My 4.77MHz IBM 5150 runs it great, even better on the 8MHz AT&T PC 6300.

Just in case anyone wants to check it out, let me give the info for accessing this BBS. ANSI/VT100 or better is required for color on Telnet or the traditional dial-up BBS.

Telnet to or internet to rdfig.net port 23
Dial in to: 972-329-0781

--Jack
Click to expand...
 
Right, right, what I meant was that we could do something LIKE that BBS. The point was, a BBS like what we want is already out there--all we have to do is use that software and we could be on our way to dialing in, telnetting, or even just using the internet to access the forums.

The reason I left the addresses to it is so that you guys could look at it and get the feel of it, and brainstorm as to what we could do here with that software.

--Jack
 
just install arachne on your XT. if you have an hour to spare, you might be able to squeeze two posts in.

in all seriousness, bobcat is a decent choice. text-only browser for DOS and it handles posting here just fine, i've tried it on my supersport 8088.

atm, i am browsing/posting here on a 486 running NT4 and opera 6.02. it's more like junk than vintage though. there is a fine line between the two terms. :p
 
Heh - you guys can knock yourselves out.
I went through the whole 4.77 XT-to 10MHz, to 286, to 386SX, to 386DX, to 486DX, to Pentium, to PII, to PIII, to AMD Athlon XP. Used that 386SX/25 for much longer than I shoulda', but couldn't afford an upgrade. Had a Perstor card, and (2) Seagate ST-4096 80MB drives, each giving about 130MB on the Perstor.

Still remember the first IDE drive I put in that thing, a Maxtor LXT213A, 200MB 3.5" HH drive. Dang thing cost $585, +$15 for the IDE-Multi-I/O.

Still remember the first over-1Gb drive i ever bought, took a YEAR to save up for it.
Was a Maxtor Panther PS-17 1.7Gb SCSI, on a DTC 3290AS EISA card (100% 15xx emulation), ran OS/2 2.11 on it. I *STILL* have that drive, and it STILL works!

Been at 300 / 1200 / 2400 / 9600 / 14400 / 16800 /19200 / 28800 / 33600 / 56K baud for more time than I think I needed to be punished. Did the 64kb ISDN, and 128kb ISDN, still wasn't enough.

Don't miss it, don't wanna do it again, thanks much.

I'm enjoying my 1400x900 res LCD laptop, with a Core2Duo/4GB RAM/320GB SATA2.

Telnet/webboards I'll try, but I ain't hooking up a modem!

:mrgreen:

T
 
It's not like your loading graphics and that with a modem--just text, which is plenty fast.

Besides, using the software I've been rambling about, you wouldn't have to change anything. Dont want to dial in? Just go to the main website, which could be no different than it is now. But it'd be accessible through different ways that would all have their own features.

--Jack
 
I, for one, think it would be amazingly awesome to log into a VC chat room from one of my vintage comps. All I have right now that's remotely capable is an XT, though. My PS/2 is still broken, and I don't think there's much hope in hooking my tandy up, is there?
 
Good stuff here, but I think I should point out that the vision of the management here is not to provide a 'hang-out' or 'chat room', but rather a repository for high-quality information about vintage computers (and yes, I'm fully aware that I'm probably the worst offender of this policy). The chat room concept was tried here at one time, but the thing more or less withered and died on the vine from lack of interest/use, probably due again to the time differences.

--T
 
Oh you guys! I just loved waking up every 3 hours to check on my 19 hour modem download of 19 OS/2 update images 10 years ago.
 
There seem to be emulation of com ports

There seem to be emulation of com ports

Just found this BBS site there seem to be com port emulation programs, i am not quite sure how they work.

Will both server and client require the com port simulation?

But the old BBS systems didn't have any adress only listening for commands over a port, how did they handle multiple connections over same port?

If anyone have any starter page for understanding how old BBS worked i would be greatful, did they followed a common command standard at all? Or was it dedicated clients for the servers?

Is there some underlying protocol, i have forgotten all about slip and ppp.

JT
 
I downloaded the newest copies of Renegade and oblivion/2....holy crap this brings back memories! I have an unused cable line in my house so I might actually try to get one of these going just for the heck of it.
 
TCP/IP Terminal Server

TCP/IP Terminal Server

Folks,

I picked up a nifty device at a hamfest last year for $5 out of a junkpile. It is a BlackBox model 37687-R2 enhanced TCP/IP terminal server. Basically it has sixteen DB25F RS232 connectors that are each assigned to individual ports of one ethernet address. The ethernet side of the device has connections for thick, thin, and 10BaseT. Each port can be configured by using a terminal attached to one of the ports to access the setup firmware.

The real fun was when I connected a pdp-11/23 console port to it, then it to a wireless ethernet bridge. Then I sat upstairs with my modern laptop with wireless and a VT100 terminal emulator to run the 11/23.

Perhaps something like this could enable an old-school BBS on vintage equipment to be accessed over the internet. And since I'm old enough to have actually used a 300 baud acoustic coupler and dec printing terminal to access a mainframe, I'm totally fine with using such a setup to run 9600 baud.

Lou
 
For a BBS a terminal server like that could indeed be useful. But for what you're doing, a single RS-232 port, all you'd need is an old laptop, preferably with wireless capability, running an RS-232<>Internet bridge program.

(Just in case someone wants to do it who doesn't have a TS).
 
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