How can I get started with making a BBS on windows 10? reddit / bbs ---------------------------------------------------------------------- myooted · 2021-02-17 19:31 How can I get started with making a BBS on windows 10? I tried it before but didn't get too far. what steps can I do to make a good BS? Also, if I need to use DOS, can I emulate it? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- PaulLee420 · 2021-02-17 20:21 In no random order, things that helped me: Find some good current BBSes you like. Here’s some awesome current BBSes I like, running on different softwares so you can figure out which one you like best: Quantum Wormhole bbs.erb.pw:23 The Underground www.theunderground.us:10023 aBSINTHE BBS absinthebbs.net:1940 Westwood westwoodbbs.net:8888 mASTURBATION sTATION mstation.servebbs.com:23 Black Flag OBV/2 blackflag.acid.org:2629 Another Droid andr01d.zapto.org:9999 Danger Bay dangerbaybbs.dyndns.org:1337 hax0rs Palace unknownrealm.org:23 Join fsxNet- It’s the most active and current FTN message network. Tons of people to help with any BBS/FTN setup issues. Pick a BBS software. Current, awesome BBS packages that are maintained and worked on, listed in which ones I like best: Mystic BBS mysticbbs.com ENiGMA 1/2 enigma-Bbs.github.io Synchronet BBS synchro.net WWiV www.wwivbbs.org Talisman by apam talismanbbs.com Renegade TITANTIC BBS @ ttb.rgbbs.info:23 These are just the big boys. Talisman is in alpha, and is a very small package. Renegade is more finicky than the others. The first 4 are fully featured, fully supported and currently in development. You can’t go wrong with any. You’ll need to learn to port forward. You’re gonna have to open up at least a Telnet port so people can connect to you. You’ll either need to buy a domain, for a super cool MYRADBBS.COM or use a service like account.dyn.com to get a MYSUCKYBBS.DYNDNS.ORG address. Then you need to point either of those to your public IP address, then edit your router settings and open the port you’ve chosen to run your BBS on. You should join fsxNet. If you choose Synchronet, it’s got DoveNET built right in... otherwise, you’ll want fsxNet to be connected with other BBSes. FsxNet.nz For door games, you can use DoorParty or BBSLink to easily put 50 door games that are networked with other BBSes on yours. Find them @ throwbackbbs.com & bbslink.net Come to our discord channel. It’s my friend The Godfather, who runs The Undrground BBS... there’s a ton of us that hang around and could help ya... https://discord.gg/sajUjGP68Y Come to 2o fOr beeRS bbS- I’m more than happy to answer an email, chat on the phone and/or help set things up if needed. The BBS scene in 2021 is awesome. It’s all out the community, so that’s what I suggest... jump on in the community and meet the folks who are here. We’re waiting on you... I’ve tried to post a ton of info here, I hope it receives you well!! pAULIE42o . . . . . . . . . . 20ForBeers.com:1337 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- CharlieBrown197 · 2021-02-17 22:28 Look up the Mystic and Synchronet BBS softwares. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- andreMKE · 2021-02-18 00:16 Yes, you can emulate DOS, but usually that is only needed for running door games. Synchronet is the most popular package, runs well on linux and Windows 32-bit, but will not run on 64-bit Windows. Mystic is a bit simpler to setup, but not as feature rich... Enigma 1/2 is more modern than both by a long shot, but requires editing JSON files to do anything. There are plenty of others to choose from, but those are the big three right now. What can you do to make a good BBS? Give it a unique theme and purpose. Almost every BBS is exactly the same, just with different ANSI screens. They all think they're bringing something new and exciting with their tons of files or tons of games or whatever... and no one cares. Do it for fun. Do it for learning. Do it to try to show something nostalgic to people who've never seen a BBS before. But you're not going to bring BBSes back from the scourge of the internet, or get a bunch of users who already run their own BBS. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- myooted · 2021-02-18 00:22 And also, before I begin. Can I just use my normal ethernet, nothing about it changed, or do I need some modem or do I need to do some ethernet-port-changing-wizardry (port forwarding or whatever it is)? What I mean is, can I download the required software and get started immediately? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- andreMKE · 2021-02-18 00:26 You'll have to do address/port forwarding on your router and open any firewall ports. If that's too much for you, you're going to have a hell of a learning curve to get a BBS working. I'd say go for it. It'll be fun-ish. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- istarian · 2021-02-18 14:38 Unless you're interested in writing something from scratch you'll want a BBS server software that uses regular ethernet networking. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- dmine45 · 2021-02-19 10:24 Start with something with Telnet built in. Synchronet is really easy to get going. You can get a basic stock BBS up in 5 minutes. If you plan on running door games, that is a bit tricky since under normal circumstances you can't run 16 bit door games in a 64 bit operating system. There is a 32 bit Windows 10 if you want to go that route. But you don't need to emulate DOS unless you want to run DOSBOX for door games. As others have said you can run a DOS based BBS but you need a Telnet front end such as Net2BBS with NetFoss from PC Micro. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ILikeBumblebees · 2021-02-19 14:59 > Synchronet is the most popular package, runs well on linux and Windows 32-bit, but will not run on 64-bit Windows. The Windows release is a 32-bit executable -- why wouldn't it run on 64-bit Windows? The only thing you can't do with it on 64-bit Windows is run 16-bit DOS doors. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- andreMKE · 2021-02-19 15:04 Yes, that’s what I should have said. But better to know that in advance. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- myooted · 2021-02-19 22:04 are you sure I cant run 16 bit door games on windows 64 bit because I ran Gobble Gobble with no hitch without DOSBox. Does that just mean that its not 16 bit and only some games are 16 bit? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [deleted] · 2021-02-20 03:02 you can use 'BBS Dosbox'. the right thing to do is run an emulator like vmware or virtualbox and run windows 32bit. allows you to run your doorgames and it's easy to backup the virtual machine. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- dmine45 · 2021-02-25 10:11 DOSBOX does work, but it's sort of a pain to set it up for BBSing. Someone has done that, but it's a really old version of DOSBOX. My advice is to either run a 32-bit version of Windows 10 (bare metal or a VM) or use NTVDMx64 and NetFoss64. I've done all of the above over time. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [deleted] · 2023-08-15 23:18 [removed]