Gonna setup a BBS. I got questions. reddit / bbs ---------------------------------------------------------------------- garyb122 · 2020-09-12 19:59 Hi...ok, so I’m finally gonna setup a telnet BBS. I ran a BBS in the late 80s/early 90s, and I wanna relive that. I got a couple of questions. 1. What is your recommendation for DOS-based BBS software? I’m gonna run this off an old DOS machine, and it’s important to me that that not change. I want this BBS to be authentic old-school, so I’m not interested in using any other OS besides DOS. Is this do-able? 2a. Hardwiring an Ethernet connection just isn’t an option. So I bought one of those serial port WiFi dongle thingys, and it works perfectly. But now I’m hearing that a serial port WiFi dongle thingy will only support one telnet connection at a time. Is that true? 2b. If it is true that it will only support one telnet connection at a time, would a plug-in WiFi extender be a better option? I’ve seen several on Amazon, and they all have an Ethernet port on the side. Would that work? Honestly, I’ve always been way more into coding than messing around with hardware. So I expect this project to be challenging, but not impossible. Fire away with any advice or opinions! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- TheZenHippies · 2020-09-12 20:11 I can't answer your question about the WiFi dongle, since I have never fooled around with one. I have MajorBBS 6.25 up and running on two machines, WindowsXP and Windows 7 with a packet driver (swsvpkt) and they work fine for me. You can grab the free version of MajorBBS 6.25 put out by The Major BBS Restoration Project [here](https://www.themajorbbs.com/files/). And they have various files and documents related to the MajorBBS to help you along the way. I hope that helps. Feel free to ask me anything you like, but my knowledge of DOS networking is literally decades out of date. I know a 3Com 3c905b works with DOS and the DOS networking setup program. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- garyb122 · 2020-09-12 20:34 Thanks! That’s a good resource. The 500+ page user manual for MajorBBS will likely be my bible for this project. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- TheZenHippies · 2020-09-12 20:40 It's probably the best manual for a BBS software I have ever seen, and that includes PC Board. The MajorBBS 6.25 was programmed for DOS and it can support 255 simultaneous users on old 486DX100 hardware. It is incredibly customizable and if you code, the source code is easily obtainable, but it does require Borland 5 for DOS, PharLap, and a few other things. I know where a copy of all that lurks via FTP. So if you are interested in really getting under the hood, send me a message. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- dperry324 · 2020-09-12 21:30 A good multiline dos bbs program was tbbs. You need the tdbs addon to play games though. Otherwise there's a whole slew of dos bbs packages. Remoteaccess, telegard, renegade, wwiv, the list goes on. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- redbrickchimney · 2020-09-12 23:19 so you're actually going to use DOS? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- skyrocker_58 · 2020-09-13 01:26 I ran an 8 line Synchronet BBS under OS/2 back in the day. Circa '88-92. Had to let it go when I purchased my first home, couldn't afford the monthly charges for the phone lines or the cost to move 9 lines. I learned a LOT from running that BBS and I still miss it. I know that I could set one up for my own enjoyment and learn a few more things but how active would a BBS be in this day and age? The thrill to me was seeing the userlist and daily logons grow. IU think I'd get bored pretty quickly if I only had one or two logons per month. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- garyb122 · 2020-09-13 01:35 TBBS was the software I ran my BBS on back in the day. I remember it being really good. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- garyb122 · 2020-09-13 01:36 Yep. Well, technically FreeDOS. But yes. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- garyb122 · 2020-09-13 01:42 Same here. You’re story is practically identical to mine. I remember the thrill of seeing people logon. I also remember the not-so- thrilling phone bills. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- skyrocker_58 · 2020-09-13 01:43 Good luck with your project! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- phareous · 2020-09-13 02:40 I'm also thinking about starting my own. I used to cosysop several boards but by the time I was old enough to run my own the internet came. I never got to live my dream of running my own bbs.. So i might do it even if I don't have any users. It will be on telnet so maybe I might have a few every now and then. One thing I really miss though is that local community... That will never happen again ---------------------------------------------------------------------- garyb122 · 2020-09-13 04:13 Yep. We’ll never see that again. Lightning in a bottle. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- redbrickchimney · 2020-09-13 04:19 some of the echomail networks are pretty active. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- denzuko · 2020-09-13 06:11 Wifi for MSDos that one can use with a bbs.. Try: [http://biosrhythm.c om/?page\_id=1453](http://biosrhythm.com/?page_id=1453) It's rs232 modem based on esp8266 that supports hayes at commands and has built in TCP/IP stack so dos doesn't need wintrumpet or the like. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- dmine45 · 2020-09-13 11:21 You *can* use DOS, but I don't recommend it. You can use Linux or Windows, then use a DOS based BBS with NetFoss as your interface between the BBS (that expects to talk to a modem) and the Internet. There are of course several Internet-ready BBS packages out there for both Windows and Linux. That's the easier route. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- euphraties247 · 2020-09-13 14:19 you are going to hit so many frustrating limits so quickly. You are going to find out that many MS-DOS BBS's are single tasking, so if you want to run DOORS you'll need a multitasker. I've used OS/2 and Windows/386 and OS/2 is far more resilient than Windows/386 however it can be done. Obviously Windows 3.0/3.1 and OS/2 2.0++ are better, as they support DPMI for more sophisticated doors. As far as the connection in, something that connects to the serial ports, aka a dongal will be one connection. And you'll need some kind of load balancer to load-balance the inbound connections. I'd ask why ethernet isn't an option? I'd HIGHLY recommend it, or at the least use a WiFi bridge, and an ethernet cable. You will want to research FOSSIL, and packet drivers, or SIO for OS/2 to emulate modems. It's all terribly involved. Even Synchronet 3.0 or WildCat! on Windows 95, or NT 3.51/4.0 will be a million times more reliable. I can give you far more tips, but really you'll WANT a multitasker, so you can 'dial in' along with your users, or hit the console as well. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- euphraties247 · 2020-09-13 14:21 I wish I'd know SIO supported virtual modems. I'd have kept my old one alive much longer. But OS/2 runs under VMWare... in a VPS. In a data center. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- skyrocker_58 · 2020-09-13 15:06 lol. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- nolageek · 2020-09-14 00:08 I ran my board for 5 years on an old windows 10 machine via a wifi dongle and it supported more than one caller. I used the WiPi dongle. https://thepihut.com/products/raspberry-pi-wipi-wireless-adapter ---------------------------------------------------------------------- denzuko · 2020-09-14 00:27 >WiPi dongle Sure, that works for any modern OS (windows, mac, linux, etc..) since its a RALink 802.11n usb device. Doubt it would work for MS-Dos 6.22 since that's what OP is wanting to use. Heck even FreeDos (which has built in tcp/ip stack) states; "Wireless devices connected via USB can not yet be used with FreeDOS." OS/2 Warp can use USB 1.1 wifi dongles (so 802.11b at <11Mbs): [http:/ /www.os2warp.be/index2.php?name=wifi](http://www.os2warp.be/index2.php ?name=wifi) At best for MS-Dos, one either has to use an emulated wifi via esp8266 as a COM1 dial up modem or a 10/100 ethernet with a 3com compatible card and trump winsocks/mTCP. There's also the other issue on top of it that most DOS BBS code bases either support FOSS or COM1 Modem drivers. Thus if one wants to support telnet based access to their boards they need to run a virtual FOSS driver along with the tcp/ip driver. [http://www.bbscorner.com/telnetbbs/virtualmodems.htm](http://www.bbsc orner.com/telnetbbs/virtualmodems.htm) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- euphraties247 · 2020-09-15 00:40 It’s far easier to just use a WiFi bridge. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- euphraties247 · 2020-09-15 01:36 I’d certainly be interested in the Phar Lap extender. I’ve been trying to collect them all for fun OS/2 experiments ---------------------------------------------------------------------- TheZenHippies · 2020-09-15 03:57 I sent you a message. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- veeb0rg · 2020-09-22 03:29 So, I can answer some of these questions. I run a WWIV bbs on a pentium 2 machine running DOS 6.22. I use a raspberry pi with a usb to serial adapter running Fozztexx's TCPser to emulate a dialup modem. WWIV functions just as it would with an actual hayes modem. It does only accept one telnet connection at a time. Since tcpser emulates a standard hayes modem, you can use any DOS bbs software you like. I run 4.24 WWIV because its what I use to run on my bbs back in the day. I have a 10mb 3com ethernet card in mine that I've gotten to work with my network and allows me to transfer files from my network shares to the dos machine. Besides moving files onto the machine this has no bearing on the bbs itself. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- gearcontrol · 2022-01-08 20:42 Another vote for MajorBBS. I ran one in the early to mid-90s called Citicom. I still have the books/manuals and I think I even have one of their multi-modem cards in the closet.