Board:   [fsxNet] BBS Software Development/Support
Subject: Re: Crazy idea
From:    Dumas Walker(21:1/175)
Date:    Sun Oct 04, 2026 14:59

A> DW> I am 100% positive that if I went back over the last year or
A> DW> so in the BBS networks I carry, I would find a lot more "why
A> DW> don't you just run Windows" posts than I would "just use
A> DW> linux" posts, especially when it comes to peop asking about
A> DW> getting doors running.
A>
A> If I'm not mistaken its because Windows Sysops are genuinely
A> confused why an apparent Rube Goldberg setup is needed to run
A> silly DOS doors; when we've been told for years that Linux does
A> things soooooooo much better than Windows.

I used to, and still do, run a DOS BBS.  While it doesn't "just work" under linux, back it the day it was going to take a very much Rube Goldberg setup to get it to "might work" under Windows 9x, although it never did.

Worked great under OS/2 Warp 4 with SIO/Vmodem.  Only reason it is not still running there is because getting OS/2 to support a level of NFS that was still able to talk to a linux server (I am guessing modern windows, too) was to set up some other Rube Goldberg setup that, IIRC, was also not free and also might not work.

Honestly, keeping it (and its doors) working under linux has not been all that difficult.  The biggest difficultly I remember having was when linux dropped DPMS support and TW 2002 stopped working.  DOSBOX-X fixes that.

The rest of the issues seem to be that a door gets old, is no longer supported and, over time, stops working.  Usually one no one ever used anyway so "fixing it" is simple.  I am guessing that even happens on "vanilla DOS" machine.

A> Doors are a drop in the bucket, its either many years of Just
A> use Linux, or getting replies in the form of "You just got your
A> first computer or node number yesterday so I must lecture you".

Yeah, not only did you get your first computer and node number yesterday, they made you ZC even, so let me tell you all about how FTNs work so you don't mess up...

Is that the first time you've gotten that one?  :D

I just figure people should run whatever OS and BBS software they like.  As long as they don't break the networks, I actually think it is pretty cool that I can enter this message on a linux box, you can read it on a Windows (XP?) box, and someone else might be reading it on a Commodore or something else super vintage.


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