Help with Mystic BBS setup? reddit / bbs ---------------------------------------------------------------------- saint_quarantine · 2019-01-22 04:01 Hey all! I want to get a mystic BBS set up for some friends, I just have some questions. 1) I can't seem to find a good Mystic tutorial. The one on the wiki seems really fragmented (albeit I am new to the whole BBS thing). And I've watched the first couple videos by the Mystic Guy on youtube and still don't have the hang of it.   2) Do you need your own website or server to run a BBS? I assumed that you could host from your computer and people could connect via telnet and SSH.   3) I am still a bit confused about security. I understand the differences between the raw telnet connection and what SSH does. But is there a privacy problem because I am hosting from my own computer and using my own IP?   I know these questions were really vague and all over, I'm just trying to find where to start learning about this all. Thanks for any responses! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- SqualorTrawler · 2019-01-22 05:23 > I can't seem to find a good Mystic tutorial. The one on the wiki seems really fragmented (albeit I am new to the whole BBS thing). And I've watched the first couple videos by the Mystic Guy on youtube and still don't have the hang of it. I just did Mystic out of curiosity recently having not seen it before. The best way is to use the Wiki to find out just where to start. Read menus and experiment, and when you get stuck, refer to those videos and the Wiki. Go slow. It is normal to be a little confused especially if you're not used to BBS software. Work through each problem or question methodically. > Do you need your own website or server to run a BBS? I assumed that you could host from your computer and people could connect via telnet and SSH. You can run it on your own computer. The thing about that is it involves ingress into your local network, a security risk which some people don't want. The second thing is it violates some ISPs terms of service (although whether they care about a BBS enough to look for them I don't know.) My preference is for a cheap VIRTUAL PRIVATE SERVER. DigitalOcean has them for as little as $5 a month - it is effectively like having your own Linux server (you have root access) out on the Internet. This way people aren't telnetting into my home network. Some people don't mind the risk or manage it, so this is just my preference. If you are not familiar with Linux, a VPS may not be the best option. > I am still a bit confused about security. I understand the differences between the raw telnet connection and what SSH does. But is there a privacy problem because I am hosting from my own computer and using my own IP? Yeah, that's the problem. Think of running a BBS as running a server (that is, in fact, what it is). When you publish your BBS on a BBS list somewhere, people will know your home IP and in fact be connecting to a machine inside your network. In the early days of the Internet I was willing to take that risk personally but not now. Again, this is completely a personal preference. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- inkrat · 2019-01-22 06:45 Number 2 is highly advised against. Any exploit could cause someone to have access to your entire computer. If you're going to be running any sort of service, it should always be on dedicated hardware and zoned off with strict port forwarding rules on your router. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- saint_quarantine · 2019-01-22 18:16 This is exactly what I was looking for, thanks for the help! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- saint_quarantine · 2019-01-22 18:16 Yeah that's what I thought, thanks for the response! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- SqualorTrawler · 2019-01-25 19:53 Any more progress on your Mystic setup? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- mro_1337 · 2019-01-26 07:49 You should contact the mystic community via their mysticbbs echo on fidonet for help. this bbs subreddit is ran by people that aren't knowledgeable about bbses or running servers, and largely the users of this subreddit follow suit. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [deleted] · 2019-02-22 09:53 [removed]