Retro Return: Spinning Up a DOS BBS in the Cloud Era · retro shed reddit / bbs ---------------------------------------------------------------------- nevarro · 2023-11-06 21:58 This article is amazing! Thanks for sharing. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- dmine45 · 2023-11-06 22:25 THANK YOU! I've been hoping for someone to walk us through how to set up DOSEMU. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- robbiew · 2023-11-06 23:00 Realize I left out the blurb about the fossil driver setup - will fix that tonight! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- robbiew · 2023-11-07 00:32 Fixed! there's now instructions and a zip file containing the fossil driver and userhook file, which is essentially how dosemu2 handles config.sys type things... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- PaulLee420 · 2023-11-07 04:34 Where do I login to make an account??? Loved the aricle, thanks for sharing!! :P ---------------------------------------------------------------------- shurato99 · 2023-11-07 06:45 Thanks, that article was fantastically informing. Now I know how to set up dosemu. If I ever switch over to a Linux BBS, now I know what to do. And, now I could put my system in the cloud. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- robbiew · 2023-11-07 13:05 Ha, very soon. Now that I’m done setting it up — it’s time to customize! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- droid_mike · 2023-11-07 16:06 Just a question, why did you choose dosemu over dosbox? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- robbiew · 2023-11-07 21:05 Great question! For me, it was a few things, from my research/testing: 1. I need to run headless in the cloud. dosbox might be able do that, i think i read, but i don't think it's really meant to be run like that, in non-desktop environments 2. dosemu is more focused on Linux systems and provides better integration with the Linux environment, specifically applications, vs. graphical programs/games 3. dosemu appears to have better performance for non-gaming applications, as it allows DOS programs to run more directly on Linux hardware. 4. dosemu has better support for networking/multi-node type applications which is crucial for running a BBS. Lots of convos with sysops: "dosbox is great for single node, causes problems with multi- node" - as DOSBox is not designed for multi-user environments or for running networked applications or servers 5. DOSBox emulates an entire DOS system, which includes CPU, sound, graphics, and other peripherals, at a high level -- need waaay less to run a BBS There may be other projects--dosbox-x, dosbox-stagin, etc.--that may have overcome some of these, but the "pure" linux implementation has made it the defacto DOS virtual environment for BBSs over the years (IMHO). ---------------------------------------------------------------------- droid_mike · 2023-11-07 21:26 Very good to know. Thanks! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Purduecoz · 2023-11-27 18:23 Great article! I commented on the blog via disqus, but figured I'd respond here too just in case... It seems like dosemu hangs up when running with the provided .dosemurc that specifies com1 to be virtual. If I run dosemu with the .dosemurc that doesn't contain the $\_com1 = "virtual" line, then I get a DOS prompt as expected. Any ideas? I've tried using my cloud provider as well as locally with Hyper-V. Same behavior on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS as well as Ubuntu 23.10. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- robbiew · 2023-11-28 03:57 Yes! I replied to your comment in the article, your’ee right - when running dosemu locally, use a separate config without the com_1 line. I have a shell file just for that. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Purduecoz · 2023-11-28 04:08 Got it going! Thanks! Now I’m having problems with Zmodem and file transfers.. but I’m not even sure this method supports that. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- robbiew · 2023-12-02 23:37 Yeah there’s also problems with running doors, I think