Re: Telnetting with a ][?

[aaron@kitten.net.au (Aaron Howell)]

In article <z87Cd.14301$sh5.396@trndny08>,
Moll  <Mollyzkoubou@Spam.BettyKate.Spam.Spam.Spam.Dosius.Com> wrote:
>Robert Bernardo wrote:
>> On Mon, 3 Jan 2005, Moll wrote:
>> 
>>> I'm just musing right now, but I've found out about software people 
>>> use to connect to Telnet-based BBSes with C64s, and I was wondering if 
>>> anyone knew of similar software for a PC to feed an Apple ][ comm port 
>>> to a Telnet service like that, like "ATD cyberspace.org:23" or such.
>> 
>>     With your Apple term program and a shell account at your ISP, just 
>> drop into the shell's UNIX prompt, and type in  telnet youraddress 
>> <RETURN/ENTER>.  You will arrive at the telnet BBS of your desires.  :-)
>
>That's not an option if your ISP is Verizon DSL, and you don't have any 
>Linux boxen handy. :-( (Trying to get to a telnet-based *x shell with my 
>//e)  I should have mentioned I'm running Windoze 2K on the computer 
>with the line.
>
>Moll.
Actually, this is fairly easy to achieve with a Windows nt/2k/xp box.
If you're familiar with how to set up a Linux getty,
visit http://www.cygwin.com, do a base cygwin install,
and make sure you get the packages agetty, initscripts and sysvinit, and anything they depend on.
Drop into cygwin, and uncomment the line
for a serial console in  /etc/inittab.
(you can use init-config to make sure that this gets respawned every time windows boots, or start init manualy from within cygwin).
(Of course, while getty has control of the serial port, other programs won't be able to access it,
because they won't be aware of unix style line arbitration, but if you don't need that particular port for anything else...)
Once you have it set up properly, you'll get a login prompt out the serial line,
Then just use proterm or similar, log in with your nt username and password,
and voila, instant unix shell.
If you're feeling adventurous, you can compile (or download prebuilt versions of)
other packages like irc, ssh, lynx etc.
Its a bit fiddly to get going, but once you do, you can happily surf from your apple, without needing an ethernet card or serial enabled router or the like.
Hope that helps.
Regards
Aaron