Re: Telnet BBS Interface

["brad" <mrbrad@ll.net>]

as a guy who ran the www.lost-gonzo.com (currently down bbs) from 1991 till
2002....the easiest way to do this stuff ..for a non-programmer like myself
was to run a ms dos or win32 bbs program (major bbs, worldgroup, synchronet
bbs which is currently free and win32 bit or linux at www.synchro.net) and
some menu driven door programs that run with these pkgs
dialout doors i think they were called..to do the connection via serial or
modem to other bbs machines via null modem or modem like apple ii bbs's...

there are programs..door programs for bbs's that you can use with ..say
synchronet bbs pkg to serially connect from that main win32 bbs machine with
win32 fossil included..to allow you to dial out to another bbs or just
serially connect to it ..com-ip comes to mind not sure...but could find the
door programs to do this..)...found them one was called cst65.zip and the
other was csti33.zip

the other way to do it was via major bbs or worldgroup bbs had a dialout
module that worked serial or thru modem (null modem)...worldgroup was not
setup for multi-node doors in other words 30 people on at one time on 1 door
game via telnet or whatever....synchronet is setup to run doors in mult-user
mode....as a side note


so essentially what i did was a user would connect thru the bbs (the
worldgroup win32 beast or you could use synchronet) that bbs could be say
the linux version of sychronet or worldgroup...then VIA MENU ..yes..it is
menu driven ...even the door programs i talked about above ..you could just
set the parms to dialout via serial or modem to the other machine running
your apple // bbs pkg...the pkgs i used was tpro 4.2f RPG bbs...essentially
a large rpg game with bbs built around it...and fv/metal 4.0xev a copy way
back of boycott bbs..he recently had his board up with such a mod to get the
fv/metal software up on the inet...i also had via a ip connection the tw2002
gold server 16 node on same machine as synchronet bbs pkg running multi-node
doors ..all menu driven/more or less transparent to the user...you could
also do all this from the www page via java telnet script

the door programs that allowed dialout under bbs pkgs that used door game
programs like synchronet were

cst65.zip

and

csti33.zip

one was for straight dial via modem and the other i think was telnet related

so my recommendation would get the synchronet win32 bbs pkg or the linux
version of the same..it is freeware and actively supported both versions see
alt.bbs.synchronet newsgroup for more details on the pkg...but essentially
it is a stand alone telnet inet pkg with built in win32 fossil drivers that
allows multiuser doors *that means if you have a door game like legend of
the red dragaon it will multitask using the win32 fossil driver for how many
telenet ports you have it set up for so 20 people could be in the same game
you can't do that with standard door programs with major bbs or
worldgroup..then simply get which version linux/win32 set it up..review how
to install doors (some are included already installed like l.o.r.dragon etc)
and google for the above dialout doors and viola hit the bbs pkg on the
apple // you want to use..

if you run an apple //gs as a serially connection to a main machine like
worldgroup or synchronet you need to use a super serial card setup ..we
never got it to work with a gs port...of course for a apple bbs pkg on a
apple ii or ii+ or iie ..you'd have to use super serial card

also i'd ask around for terry olson's mod of the boycott bbs on telnet via
newsgroup and also maybe you could talk him out of a copy of boycott bbs (i
did once)..which is apple ii and runs such stuff as spacer guest, planet
bashers etc...there are also java telnet scripts avail so you could set it
up to go directly from say a www page to the door game or dialout bbs in
question directly more/less or at least to the apple or synchronet bbs with
doors game menu ...

i have plans on getting the www.lost-gonzo.com back up but...with 150/m for
ded ip it an't  likely ..all other sysops have moved away...so..anyone want
to move to mankato, mn?...its all sittng around ready go put back up..but
an't no fun with no one about to jump up and down and yell...at machines
when no one else around on projects

anyway this should get a person started in an easy way to have telnet
capablity and maybe a bbs pkg win 32 or linux as a front end
(www.synchro.net) and use the door and win32 fossil features of this pkg to
set up multi-node door games and  the dialout doors to get to that old apple
// bbs you have sitting around...with terry olson's boycott bbs pkg and or
mod you could also go direct from the web ..of course most ( i knew one
safehouse bbs was multiline on 3 apple //e's in 1982 had 2 lhnes)
apple ii bbs pkgs are only 1 user at a time on the machine...then simply
setup you boycott bbs pkg or whatever on your apple // (or c64 bbs for that
matter whatever...drag the trs-80 out)...and go


there is also a tpro bbs clone multinode on linux if anyone remembers it
..it was on source forge for awhile...as a project...did not have all the
bells and whistles of orig but the advantage it had was you could run
multiple users at one time ..under linux machine hard to do that with a tpro
on an apple //e


anyway hope this was not too nuts a reply...and on topic more/less...but the
above was the only way as a non-programmer i was able to run apple ii bbs
pkgs from 1991 to 2001 via inet...i cheated ...tossed a worldgroup bbs as
the front end with dialout program and hit the tpro bbs pkg on one apple
//gs with ramfast /hd and same to the 2nd gs with ramfast/ hd for the
fv/metal 4.0xev....the only complaint i had was people wondered why only one
person could get in that menu area from the main bbs at one time...being
menu driven they only knew it was an apple // bbs once inside and signed
up....i never did get around to putting up the orig lost gonzo bbs from 1983
up was APPLENET dos 3.3 by pechenk? used to run the safehouse bbs which ran
two phone lines on a corvus setup in early 80's....i always wanted to the
old applenet up on a dos 3.3 sider 10mb hd and hitch it up to the net...that
way anyone asked what bbs pkgs do you run i could say the same stuff i
always had up from 1983 applenet, 1988 tpro 4.2f rpg bbs pkg,  1991 fv/metal
4.0xev, 1994 major bbs/worldgroup , 1998 synchronet bbs pkg for multinode
doors and tw2002 gold server 16node, 1999 space quest 2112 server..etc

what a cludge muckup that was..or would be oh well..still need to figure out
a way to get a ded ip and majormud back up...i've tried noip.com and
others..but inet provider kept catching me...so stuck till prices go down


anyway ....the above is one way to kinda? do it

brad
former sysop www.lost-gonzo.com *currently still down* sigh








"Scarlet Otter" <SecretaryBird@MYTAILFEATHERSSoftHome.net> wrote in message
news:bkoi6e$lcm$0@216.39.134.136...
> Luis de Santos <desantos@cfl.rr.nospam.com> wrote in
> quntmvs2enfgv51jn4sd94t2jrlsraocpr@4ax.com:">news:quntmvs2enfgv51jn4sd94t2jrlsraocpr@4ax.com:
>
> >
> >
> > Damn, beat me to the question!  I was going to ask if there was a
> > Linux solution to all this - I really don't want to use my primary
> > (work) PC as the bridge.  I'm sure TCL could be used to accomplish
> > this.  Any ideas?
>
> Freesco should be able to do the job.  It's a single-floppy Linux
> implementation that is primarily used as a dialup router.
>
> You can download it as well as find out much more information here:
>
> http://www.freesco.org/
>
> Tinkering around with port forwarding in NAT, the built-in firewall, I was
> able to have someone telnet in to one of my Linux practice boxes.  It
> shouldn't be too difficult to set up port forwarding to direct a telnet
> request to, say, a COM port which could be connected to an Apple II
running
> a BBS proggy.  I haven't got that far myself and havent experimented any
> further due to having too many other things to do.  But I do highly
> recommend giving Freesco a look and try it out.
>
> -- Otter