Tillek

bbs.sfhqbbs.org port 5983. And it is up. I actually put it back later that evening.... will have to do some maintenance this weekend though. (I always forget to update my news updates here). Then again, if it's one thing I learned from the multiple threads in the main section, no one new really seems to be reading what we're posting here.

Even longer if it's a domain name.

You can also configure it with a web interface with your PC, which is the way I generally go. The previous owner might have set it to DHCP also, so once it's hooked up to your router you might be good to go. I actually downloaded the manager (Device Installer) software from Lantronix that will find all the devices on my network and then I can just do one click to go to each one's telnet or web browser setups. https://www.lantronix.com/products/deviceinstaller/

So I posted the pinout... yes, the P:R: and the 850 use the same cable. Here is the one you want for the MSS.... http://www.ebay.com/itm/CX-88-Atari-850-Terminal-Null-Modem-Cable-New-800-XL-XE-/140954304558?hash=item20d188002e:m:mXmgO1W1DVGfPh3Yk-V7qNQ The CX-87 is the one you'd use with a regular modem (or if you had a UDS-10 or UDS-1100), so you don't want to order one of those. So as to where you stand.... Yes, the P:R:C has female DB9s and the Lantronix is male DB25 (which is actually the reverse of what it would be if they were all standard as a PC's DB-9 is male and the modems are DB25 female). You're also right that the CX-88 is male on both ends (I actually have one sealed in it's official Atari package right here in front of me to verify that) So yeah.... The f-f DB25 gender changer should get you set to go...... With the hardware part. Then there is the configuration of the MSS and the terminal software if you don't already have it (BobTerm for calling A8 BBS's and IceT for ST BBS's and others).

The 850 pinouts - The RS232 - Sorry, I grabbed the first images I could find.

Lately, I try my local Goodwill (if you have one). The one by my place tends to restock electronics on Friday and they have the box-o-cables (and power supplies). $1.00 each. Well, except those big expensive high-quality monster cables.... those go for about $3.00. I like to grab square LCD monitors too (some work very well with the Ataris).

The video wasn't about the MIDI capabilities.... it was just a casual mention. The video was more of a comparison of Amiga-ST gameplay.

I can't say I've noticed a difference. If anything, I'd say the UDS has been more stable, but then again, SFHQ has a lot more activity coming in and out than my Carina setup (which is actually down right now).

Sorry... work was really busy so I didn't get a chance to get back on and really sit down and take care of things... At any rate, when I said you needed a terminal cable from MyAtari, remember that the P:R: does not use a standard 9-pin Rs232 pinout. If what you have is a regular 9-25 null modem cable it won't work. You'll either need the terminal cable for the P:R:/850 or you'll need the modem cable for the P:R:/850 with a null adapter (on the DB25 end). The gender changer is also for the DB25 end (unless the null adapter includes it).

According to a video I watched on Youtube last night, they said the same thing...

So what was this one again?

First, please don't think that was directed solely at you or anyone. Also, please don't think I was trying to just be one of those people who tell people they should search the forums first to try to find the 5 year old topic. I just wanted to point it out because it was only a short time ago when these exact same things were asked and discussed and unless the posters intend to go cut and paste the same responses, you might miss something.... so I provided a link. To answer your question, all things being equal (you don't already have one or you can't find one or the other at a reasonable price) the mss-100 is better. The main reason is it will allow atdt bbs.domain.com:port instead of having to find the ip address. You will need the terminal cable from myatari (or a null adapter) and a gender changer for the mss-100. The uds-10 uses the regular 850/pr modem cable. There are a lot of caveats and options, but that's the tldr;

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/263318-connecting-to-a-bbs-without-a-phone-line/ That is the thread, not even two weeks old, where we discussed this already. The reason I bring it up.... 1) This was supposed to be about one guy asking a specific question. He even had the courtesy to show us what he already had and what he had on the way. (So why would people really tell him to go out and buy more stuff when he just wants to set up what he has?) 2) I won't speak for the other participants, but I'm really not looking forward to repeat the answers to literally the same questions (which have also been asked and answered in the BBS thread (though I'll give you that it's a little cluttered)).. You're all doing yourself a disservice by not looking at the information already posted there. People took time to write good responses and I'm sure nothing has changed significantly since the 17th. As for answering that specific question, I'm still waiting for Paul to decide Lantronix or wait for his APE to come in.

I'll have to get with him... Might be helpful if I ever decide to work on that multi BBS myself.

So just an update... SFHQ is still down. I didn't get to things in a timely manner and things kept cropping up.... so it's still transferring tons of files. Just kinda bummed the weekend didn't go as planned.

Short version: The Lantronix acts like a modem. It hooks directly into your router/hub on one end, and the computer (through MIO, 850, PR: Connection, whatever) on the other. No pc is involved (except maybe to configure the box). You will need the Lantronix box, the cable, the interface (MIO, 850, PR: Connection, and I believe there is a way to use the SIO2PC as an interface but someone else will have to talk about that) and your terminal software.. APE is Ape. You need the SIO2PC, you need the APE software, you need the PC to talk to, you need your terminal software. People will probably respond with lots of their opinions, but in fact it boils down to.... Do you want to have to go through your PC? Do you already own an SIO2PC and already have APE? Do you already have an 850 with cable and a Lantronix box? The primary decision should probably be based on what you have and what it will cost to get what you need. Also, if you plan to use your SIO2PC anyway for storage, may as well just use it to solve the online problem too and not spend the money on the rest of it. As far as running a BBS... same considerations.

The only problem is that when you ask a question like that on a public forum like this, you're going to get the 101 different opinions. This is x1000 if you ask on FaceBook. (Like the guy who posted a picture of an X-Former cable and despite me and another guy quickly answering what it was and providing links to further details and the guy confirming from the pinouts provided in the links that it was indeed an X-Former cable... The insanity of the idiocy of the answers the continued to pour in were staggering and nearly made me lose all hope in the future of humanity). And Paul, there are no "detailed instructions on how this is accomplished with a PC". The whole point of having a Lantronix box is that you DON'T have a PC involved in the process (except perhaps to use the web configuration menu for the device instead of the terminal one). You have everything you need (assuming you do have the modem cable laying around and a term program on disk already). In fact, if you were going to use SIO2PC with Ape, you didn't need the Lantronix at all. So if you want to keep this short and to the point, you should tell us whether you want to set up with the Lantronix for calling BBS's (and no PC is involved once the Lantronix is set up) or whether you want to go the APE route. Either way is good. Either way will work. It's just a personal preference thing of whether you want to be tied to a PC when calling BBS's. Otherwise this is going to get convoluted.

Just an FYI that SFHQ will be down the rest of the evening and probably a good chunk of tomorrow as I work on some updates/backups/battery replacement, etc. I'll let you know when it's back up.

Actually, the NUMBER for the REN is, but sometimes it's also followed by an A, B, (not sure how far it goes and not sure if it's actually the same A/B/C/D typing of the "distinctive ring" spec). It's not just the load, but the letter is the frequency. (I was looking at a site that explained it better, if you care I'll try to find it)... but long story short, I need a B and my current modem is an A (standard old Ma-Bell). Most "modern" phones use the B type ringer (though I don't know what they considered "modern" since I see a lot of 1990's era stuff with B types). I know my FidoNet NC used it (or still does as far as I know) and found it to be acceptable. But let's be honest, as far as calling in to a BBS, many people are cool with 1200-2400. You're not downloading files anymore and people like the "retro" experience. Also, I think sometimes the internet connection is more important than the service itself. Sure, I've heard it called "tragic jack"... and if you have lousy internet, why would it be anything but? Like today. I'm watching the NCAA tournament online because AT&T Uverse and CBS are having a little spat in the Cleveland Ohio market. Every other game in the tournament has been perfect. Even when I'm watching a TBS/TNT/TRU game on the TV. Today, nothing but stutter and the "fuzzy" yo-yo as the quality downgrades and goes back up. The internet is a fickle companion (blah blah ARPANet, blah blah nuclear war, blah blah fault tolerance). At the end of the day, it's a way for hard-core dialuppers to access a telnet incarnation of an old school Atari BBS. When it works, it works... when it doesn't, we'll revive the "buy a Lantronix box" thread. (I mean, if I could actually find someone to install a landline, especially if the price was reasonable, I'd totally do it!).

The cheapest one that has a power adapter and us tested/working.

The funny thing is, it's not all that complicated. Might be a little time consuming... and the hardware won't always cooperate. Like the dial-up thing.... The modem seems to work ok over the Magic-Jack Go.... but it won't send the right ring signal (so I can call out, but not get calls unless I manually answer). So now I have to find a modem that has a b-type ringer. Made more difficult because regardless of all the useless pointless data in the spec sheet, the one thing I need is the REN which they don't put in the documentation I can get access to.

Many of the "new fangled" BBSs can't run the dos doors... so they have these game servers that they connect to. I've been looking into it and I can make a gateway that will work on the ST since I have an ethernec also working with the BBS machine. Assuming you have an ethernet adapter you can hook up to your BBS machine, I could get it working for you too. However, I'd have to write the gateway and at this time, I don't know how involved that would be. Right now I'm working on getting the dialup set up for incoming callers... Bought the equipment today and we'll see how it works. After that, I'm going to work on a project to let the BBS notify the webserver of it's status via a web api, which will be much faster than ftping a file with the status information. After that, I'll be working on the games gateway. After that, I'm going to try to see if I can write a "games server" for the Atari 8-bit games, so those can be played by other BBS's.... (But for that I'd have to see if anyone would be interested since if it's just me, I already have Carina running and I would have to see if anyone would even care about the games from other A8 BBS software). And there are other BBS projects I may or may not consider (like re-writing a new version of the fido mailer and/or maybe a new message module for RatSoft) but now that I have time to work on projects, that's my "things I've settled on" and the things that might benefit you and any other ST SysOps as well.

So just a little news..... I finally got my feed for Usenet Newsgroups working on SFHQ... Getting them on the BBS will take a little time since my first group of packets was apparently a rescan and ended up sending me over 120mb of messages.... for only 5 groups. As that is essentially the size of my entire message area (including my Fido/AtariNet and Nest archvies) Jetmaill will be chewing on this for quite some time I'm sure. Which brings me to the question... Obviously I won't keep the entire history on the BBS. (I haven't decided how many messages I'll keep... if you have thoughts... ) But would people like the history made available as a download? (Probably in a package with the LED editor so you can read it on an ST). I wanted to ask because there are obviously many ways to read archived news groups and unless anyone is really interested, I wasn't going to bother (besides keeping it for myself). I'll also be looking into the binary groups to see if there is anything interesting there. If any of you have any suggestions for groups you'd like to see, let me know. I'm only getting ones that seem to have recent activity and I'll be deleting the spam as I read them. At any rate, the BBS will be down for maintenance while I do my HD backups and sort through the initial packets (the ones in the following days were far more reasonably sized). I have no idea how long this will take or when I will start so just bear in mind if you try calling and it's down, you'll know why. Also on the todo list, adding the ability for dialup users to call the BBS. Also have a new battery arriving this week which will be the first step in setting up a solution where I can remotely reset/reboot the Atari and the Lantronix box so that the BBS can be brought back up from a crash faster. Also on the near future list, how many people would be interested in playing LORD or TradeWars on an Atari system?

I've called my BBS from my iPad sometimes to check on it (also my android tablet and my android phone). Pretty much any Telnet client will work on any system. And I'm not so much worried about over enthusiasm... In fact, I'd love it. I just want to make sure people have realistic expectations before putting tons of time and money trying to get their retro machines able to call BBS's when there is a way you can "check it out" right now without going to much effort. (Or in the case of BBS's who have a terminal client right on the webpage, no more effort than it takes to be reading this right now). (And just a quick note... if you really didn't know about the Atari BBS's before this, you might have missed the sticky Atari BBS post on this forum.... Been going on a long time and has some good information in there... It's also where Atari SysOps tend to post news and other information about their systems... which I'm about to do right now).

Ok, THAT made your night... What made >MY< night was that Shakka (which I originally typed) was given the red squiggly of death by the spell checker, but Shaka wasn't.... Yeah, the spell checker speaks Star Trek Geek.