[HN Gopher] RetroBridgeBBS: An internet bridge BBS to transfer f...
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RetroBridgeBBS: An internet bridge BBS to transfer files to your
retro computers
Author : zdw
Score : 47 points
Date : 2021-04-15 16:12 UTC (1 days ago)
(HTM) web link (github.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (github.com)
| camhenlin wrote:
| Very cool! It's a lot of fun working with retro computers and
| helping them be more "useful" in the modern age.
|
| I've also been playing around a lot with Classic Macintosh
| programming recently and have been working on building out some
| serial port-utilizing software, and some different UI approaches
| due to finding the Macintosh Toolbox a bit frustrating to work
| with. Although having spent more time with it, I may commit to
| diving in more on the Toolbox at this point.
|
| I haven't written up any blog posts or anything yet as I haven't
| built a full piece of software, mostly just library exploration,
| but I have plans to build some more comprehensive pieces of
| software soon.
|
| Here are some of the things I've been working on: probably the
| most interesting at this point is this one:
|
| - coprocessorjs host library:
| https://github.com/CamHenlin/coprocessor.js + mac app library:
| https://github.com/CamHenlin/coprocessorjslib + example app:
| https://github.com/CamHenlin/retro68-coprocessorjs-test, allows
| Classic Macintosh applications to send nodejs programs and
| function calls over a serial port to a remote machine (I was
| thinking an RPi) and get a response back.
|
| and some UI toying around:
|
| - nuklear quickdraw: https://github.com/CamHenlin/nuklear-
| quickdraw - nuklear back end for quickdraw. Too slow for
| 68000-based system unfortunately. I think this would be fine for
| targeting an 020 system however. Looks and functions really nice
| so it's unfortunate that it's a bit too slow.
|
| - micro UI quickdraw: https://github.com/CamHenlin/microui-
| quickdraw - similar to the nuklear backend, a micro UI backend.
| Also too slow for 68000-based systems but was an easy test after
| writing the nuklear back end, so why not?
|
| - UGUI quickdraw: https://github.com/CamHenlin/UGUIQuickDraw -
| again similar to micro UI and UGUI, but way slower due to only
| relying on drawing a single pixel at a time. Might work OK on a
| considerably faster system
| news_to_me wrote:
| Whoa, super cool work! I can see Coprocessorjs being really
| useful.
|
| I love seeing modern dev for 68k Macs. The toolbox can be a
| pain at first, but it's not so bad once you internalize all the
| different managers you have to remember. MacApp supposedly
| helps do a lot of the work for you, but I haven't gotten around
| to doing much with it yet--it's more fun implementing my own
| abstractions like an async task manager.
| kyberias wrote:
| What I would really like to see is the emulation of telephone
| network over internet so that we could all continue using our old
| modems and retro computers and setup real BBSs with real (or
| simulated) modems. We all want to hear the real modem sounds and
| see the lights flashing.
| j4yav wrote:
| That sounds like a super fun project.
| UncleSlacky wrote:
| Something like this?
|
| https://hackaday.com/2019/02/16/build-your-own-dial-up-isp-w...
| shrubble wrote:
| You can do modem over voip, however expect 2400bps performance
| in most cases. I think that I saw a guy who used the Linksys
| ATA devices for that.
| anthk wrote:
| t38modem, modemu...
| jstanley wrote:
| > A host computer with python 3 and a serial port.
|
| It might be worth suggesting USB serial cables here, as they're
| probably more common than actual serial ports now. I use an "FTDI
| cable" to speak to my RC2014.
| EvanAnderson wrote:
| I've been using serial-to-Ethernet device services for
| connecting embedded devices and "retro" computers to modern
| networks and PCs. They're much more expensive than USB-to-
| serial cables, but much more flexible (since they're
| independent IP-based devices). The particular one I like, from
| Lantronix (https://www.lantronix.com/products/xdirect/)
| supports power-over-Ethernet and has a really nice feature-set.
| skynet-9000 wrote:
| I agree, the FTDI cable seems to be the way to go. Also works
| great with vintage Palm (pilot) devices. This $12 FTDI adapter
| worked great for me on the first try (no affiliation):
| https://amazon.com/gp/product/B006AA04K0/
| skynet-9000 wrote:
| What, no doors? FIDOnet? j/k, this is awesome! back in the day, I
| actually used an old modem with an actual POTS phone line (I
| think I had to leave it on dialtone for power or play with the
| receiver) that I'd rigged to hooked up to a 1200bps modem on my
| PC for my old 8-bit. It did work, but the modem for the 8-bit was
| only 300 baud (~bps), whereas this should be able to operate at
| the maximum theoretical speed of the computer's serial port.
| (115k? probably not, but who knows!)
| news_to_me wrote:
| This looks great! Would have been helpful when I was
| bootstrapping my Mac for internet access.
|
| Speaking of which, does anyone know of a Raspberry Pi setup that
| will emulate a modem and bridge an internet connection? I've been
| using SLiRP/PPP, but it's been a little flakey.
| anthk wrote:
| Choose 1452 as your MTU.
| tpmx wrote:
| Don't miss that demo video linked from the screen shot.
|
| Makes me curious to try it out with the
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telix client.
| bane wrote:
| This is super cool. There's a number of great hardware/software
| projects that are seeking to connect these old systems into the
| modern world such as SD card support, modem->internet bridges,
| and even an entire new infrastructure for retro systems to
| connect together https://www.irata.online/
| vhodges wrote:
| There are esp8266/esp32 based solutions as well eg:
| https://hackaday.com/2017/06/17/bbsing-with-the-esp8266/
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