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JohnPolka

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Posts posted by JohnPolka

    Setting up and running an Atari BBS in 2024

    in Community Chat

    Posted

    On 4/3/2024 at 8:45 AM, brianchilders said:

    One of the first questions I need to answer is what platform I will be using to run the BBS on.  Will I use actual Atari hardware, or will I look at using an Atari emulator and run it on Windows/Unix?

     

    If I choose Atari hardware, what Atari hardware will I use?  I have an Atari 800XL - or should I take the time to get a ST.  Then that begs the connectivity options.  Will I make it available via dialup?  Will it work with my VoIP device?  Or how do I make it available via telnet like DarkForce! BBS / Southern AMIS?  This means I will need to procure some hardware.

     

    If I choose Atari emulation, which Atari emulator should I choose?  And then do I host it on my home computer or look to put out into the cloud?  

     

    Welcome all thoughts and opinions on this.

    If you're willing to go the ST route, I would recommend it. There are fewer ST BBSs, so you probably stand a better chance at carving out your own unique niche with it.

     

    -JP
     

    RIP Len Stys

    in Atari 8-Bit Computers

    Posted

    13 hours ago, hunmanik said:

    I first found the Cleveland Free-Net Atari SIG in 1990, and the first user I interacted with was almost certainly aa399, Len Stys. I never met him in real life, just through email and online postings. For me, he was not just the heart and soul of the Atari SIG, but most likely the first person I encountered who seemed to be even more of an all-around Atari fanatic than I was. I was excited to start contributing to the SIG, and I was proud to end up heading-up the 8-bit area of the SIG under his overall leadership. His enthusiasm reinforced my own. It seemed like we were all doing something big and important.

     

    As the CFN wound down and the work of building the archive of the Cleveland Free-Net Atari SIG at https://www.atariarchives.org/cfn/ neared completion (all credit to Kay Savetz for doing the actual technical work of building the archive, I think my role consisted of things like guidance, suggestions, and testing), I wrote the following little explanation of the SIG from my perspective: https://www.atariarchives.org/cfn/about.php .  Obviously, my story with the SIG doesn't happen without Len. 

     

    Once the archive was up and running, Len agreed to write a history of the SIG as the final contribution to the project.  It has lived at https://www.atariarchives.org/cfn/history.php ever since.  I was thinking it might be appropriate to include what he wrote here.

     

     

     

     

    I'm glad you saw the announcement about Len. It's great to hear from you after our time on the CFN Atari SIG! It's been awhile.  Thanks for the clarification on Kay Savetz's role with the Atari SIG Archive. There is still a lot of useful information there today. I still find myself referring to the CFN archives every once in awhile.  :)

     

    -JP
     

    • Like 2

    RIP Len Stys

    in Atari 8-Bit Computers

    Posted · Edited by JohnPolka

    Len's passing brings a roller coaster of emotions for me. My feelings are varying between sadness and feeling damn proud that he invited me on that great Atari project we called The Cleveland Freenet Atari Special Interest Group (SIG). I met him in the 80s on the Freenet when he became an Atari SIGOp. We were both the same age and in high school at the time. He would soon take over the Atari SIG, which was mostly idle due to the current SIGOp becoming ill and unable to keep up with it anymore. He then invited me, Scott Meredith, and Phil Chow to also become Atari SIGOps to help reboot the SIG. Len would later add SIGOps Michael Current, Craig Lisowski, Bruce D. Nelson, Fred Horvat, Barry Cantin, Kevin Steele, Pete Haller, Douglas Wokoun, Steven Tucker, and Tony Thomas. Under his leadership, we turned that Atari SIG into the World's largest free repository of Atari news and information. It rivaled the Atari SIGs on the online pay systems CompuServe and Genie. It was literally the "AtariAge" of the 80s and 90s (which is the premiere website for Atari information today).

     

    Len was an Atari Super Fan. I knew of few others who were bigger Atari fans than him. He would regularly write letters to Atari telling them what they need to do to better market their products. Atari Corp President, Sam Tramiel, was so impressed with Len's letters that he had someone from Atari contact Len and ask for his resume. Len was still in high school when this happened, and when Atari learned this, they decided not to offer him a job. But there is no doubt in my mind, that had Atari Corp survived the 90s, Len probably would have landed a job with them after college. In fact, had Len not been ill the last few years, he might have been able to work for today's Atari.

     

    One of the fondest memories I have with Len is when he asked me to be the editor of our Cleveland Freenet Atari SIG Newsletter C.A.I.N., which stood for the Central Atari Information Network. Len wore a lot of hats as the Atari SIG Manager. He dedicated most of his free time to the SIG. But he realized he could not do it all. And when he saw there was a need for a newsletter, he asked me to be the editor of the newsletter. I was flattered and honored that he entrusted me with that endeavor. The goal of the newsletter was not to just promote the Cleveland Freenet Atari SIG, but it was also to provide breaking news from Atari Corp and original articles from our Atari SIGOps and members. Atari Corp, by this time, saw us as a major player with the Atari Community and included us in their press releases. Again, this would not have happened if it were not for Len's leadership. The newsletter was published on the Atari SIG and emailed to subscribers worldwide.

     

    The second fondest memory was when Len, me, and Fred Horvat put together an Atari Show. The show was held at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Kirtland, Ohio on August 7, 1994. Several Atari vendors were present including ICD and Toad Computers. We had a rare Atari Falcon030 computer on display. We raffled three new Jaguar Game Systems that Atari Corp donated to the show, as well as a Tempest 2000 cartridge and some other games. The show was described by an attendee afterwards as "Disney-like." At the time, it felt like a last hurrah for Atari users. It certainly was a last hurrah for Atari Corp as they would get swallowed up by hard drive manufacturer, JTS Inc. in 1996.

     

    The Cleveland Freenet would eventually go offline on September 30, 1999, due to Y2K concerns in the software and waning interest due to the availability of the World Wide Web. It was around this time that I would lose contact with Len for many years. From time to time, I would try to find him on the web. Sometimes I would find an email address, but my email to that email address would either bounce or go unanswered. Then Len would resurface on Facebook in 2014. We were able to resume our friendship on Facebook where we left off 15 years prior.

     

    On July 31, 2019, Len gave me the bad news on Facebook that he was diagnosed with Stage 4 Cancer. It was not looking good at all. I really thought I was going to lose my friend within days, or maybe months at best. But Len was a fighter and he put up an amazing fight for the next 4+ years. In fact, when we chatted this past December, he informed me that his oncologist wanted him to go to hospice, but he was not ready to give up his fight. So, he kept fighting that cancer until the end. He will forever be an inspiration in my life.

     

    Before the Freenet went offline in 1999, Steven Tucker and Michael Current both archived the Cleveland Freenet Atari SIG, and both posted their archives of the SIG on the web (see https://www.atariarchives.org/cfn/ and https://atarimax.com/freenet/). It's through these archives that Len's memory gets to live on. So, thank you Steven and Michael for maintaining those archives! And a big thank you to Len for your contributions to Atari History, and most importantly, for your friendship!



    -JP

     

    • Like 9
    • Sad 1

    Atari 8-bit related BBS(s)

    in Atari 8-Bit Computers

    Posted

    21 hours ago, pcrow said:

    Our neighbor operated the (Atari) Boise Users Group BBS.  We had a member who worked for AT&T and would bring his computer in at night and dial out to all the BBSes he could find, so we maintained a fairly comprehensive and accurate list of all the BBSes in the US at the time.

    Very cool! I asked my step dad who also worked for AT&T and he said that employees back then had a set amount of free long distance minutes per month. What a blast to call all those BBSs back then, eh? You don't still have any of these BBS lists, do you?

    -JP
     

    Atari 8-bit related BBS(s)

    in Atari 8-Bit Computers

    Posted

    On 12/7/2023 at 11:29 AM, bf2k+ said:

    Yep... two of my friends and I got MIOs when they first came out and we went to a techfest here in town one weekend and bought used 5MB full height ST-506 hard drives for $40 each and Adaptec 4000 bridge boards for them... and mine was the only harddrive of the three that worked...  actually my first bridge board was a Xebec 1510 (or something; I forget)...

     

     

    That's hilarious...the first hard drive I bought was a used 5MB hard drive. When it arrived, it included a diagnostic test print out. The print out mentioned a bunch of bad sectors. So, I called the company that sold it to me and they said it must have been sent to me by mistake. So, I returned it and they shipped me a Lapine 10 meg hard drive (Lapine was the brand name). That was the hard drive for my BBS for awhile. I then added a second hard drive sometime later. I think the second one was a 20MB hard drive.

     

    -JP

     

    Atari 8-bit related BBS(s)

    in Atari 8-Bit Computers

    Posted · Edited by JohnPolka

    On 12/5/2023 at 12:47 PM, bf2k+ said:

    I had to put a fan on my first MIO back in 86 or so to keep it from melting down while it ran 24/7 on the BBS...

    Yep. I did the same thing. I kept a box fan on the MIO while it operated the Basement BBS 24/7.  Back in 2017, when I unpacked my old MIO for the first time in years, I found a few strains of white fur in it. I am pretty sure that fur belonged to our old mascot, "The Basement Cat", which was notorious for climbing on top of the BBS' keyboard while someone was online. This would, of course, mess with the online user's BBS session. There is still an individual who, to this day, still thinks it was me messing with their BBS session while they were online. But what really happened was that I heard the chat bell going off, I saw the cat on the keyboard, who immediately jumped off when he saw me enter the room. When I broke into chat, this user proceeded to cuss me out. I told him it was the cat and he didn't believe me. Moving forward, I put a box onto of the Atari 800XL to protect the 800XL from the cat.  That didn't stop the cat. I would still catch him on top of the box. At least he was no longer messing with users' BBS sessions. hahahaha

    For those who have not already seen this...there is a tribute page with some photos and nice ATASCII dedicated to the Basement Cat at http://basementbbs.ddns.net:7000/basement-cat.html

     

    -JP
     

    An MPG Repository for AVG AVF File Creation

    in Atari 8-Bit Computers

    Posted · Edited by JohnPolka

    2 hours ago, rcamp48 said:

    Not quite , TV shows like Hogans Heroes , Mrs Browns boys, lots of music , movies , yes some abbot and costello , Laurel and Hardy, lots of rock concerts and the like, also 30 GIGs of pure Atari files... I am just gathering together what In have downloaded over the past 20 years, its a lot of files


    I should have guessed Hogan's Heroes. Sergeant Schultz is your favorite character on that show, eh?  ;-)

    -JP
     

    An MPG Repository for AVG AVF File Creation

    in Atari 8-Bit Computers

    Posted · Edited by JohnPolka

    16 minutes ago, rcamp48 said:

    I have decided to create a thread for MPG files in the correct format for making AVF files for the AVG cart. This makes sense as they are all exported in 192 by 80 pixels and would free up space for files that would normally be in NTSC or PAL format.

     

    I will put them all on my FTP site which is at spynet.ddns.net:21 anonymous access, there you will find a lot of stuff. (4 TBs of files online).

     

    4TBs of "Abbott and Costello", "Three Stooges", "Laurel and Hardy", "Buster Keaton", and "Charlie Chaplin" movies, eh?   ;-)

    -JP
     

    Atari 8-bit related BBS(s)

    in Atari 8-Bit Computers

    Posted

    2 hours ago, _The Doctor__ said:

    Head up!

     

    The Resistance BBS is back online

     

    resistance.cf

    port 10001

     

    or

     

    96.235.21.126

    port 10001

     

    pick your poison :)

     

    Thanks for the update. I called, posted some messages, then tried the voting booth and it locked up. :(

    -JP
     

    • Like 1

    Atari 8-bit related BBS(s)

    in Atari 8-Bit Computers

    Posted · Edited by JohnPolka

    8 hours ago, rcamp48 said:

     

    On another note , today is my birthday, I just turned 62 overnight, so I am celebrating that today....

     

     

    It's your birthday too? Happy Birthday! It's also Ashley Aubra Jones' birthday. She's getting lots of birthday wishes on your hacked Facebook account today.  ;-)

     

    -JP
     

    • Haha 2

    Atari 8-bit related BBS(s)

    in Atari 8-Bit Computers

    Posted

    15 minutes ago, Alfred said:

    Probably. As the doctor mentions above there’s the BC (Before Carden) era which I guess is 2.1. I see in the code it looks for a version 3 as well. I’m not familiar with the history of Pro, so I don’t know what’s the last version Keith did. 

    Version 2.1a was the last version released by Orion Microsystems (Keith Ledbetter and Chris King's company). My step dad (who ran Part-Time BBS node x7) and myself (Basement BBS node x127), did not upgrade past version 2.1a.

    -JP
     

    • Like 1
    • Thanks 1

    Atari 8-bit related BBS(s)

    in Atari 8-Bit Computers

    Posted

    2 minutes ago, Stephen said:

    Pics or it didn't happen.

    Not sure what you're asking. "Ashley Aubra Jones" posted her assets on Russ' FB page next to Russ' pictures of Jesus. I can look at pictures of her, then glance over at Jesus and ask for forgiveness. It's a nice set up actually.  ;-)

    • Haha 2

    Atari 8-bit related BBS(s)

    in Atari 8-Bit Computers

    Posted

    On 3/21/2023 at 5:51 AM, rcamp48 said:

    Until my FB account is fixed , this will be the only way to get ahold of me other than email, messenger is also down at my end. 

    Russ

     

    What's the hold up in getting your account fixed? Meanwhile "Ashley Aubra Jones" is posting T&A all over your profile. ;-)

     

    -JP

    • Haha 1

    ATASCII on your iPhone, iPad, and Mac!

    in Community Chat

    Posted · Edited by JohnPolka

    Atari BBSing has gotten easier for those who have an iPhone, iPad, or Mac. Muffinterm, available from the Apple App Store, now supports ATASCII. So far, I have not found any problems with their ATASCII emulation; it just works. The best part is that Muffinterm is free! Here are a couple screenshots I made on my iPhone:

     

    Basement-Muffinterm1.png

    Basement-Muffinterm2.png

    Basement-Muffinterm3.png

    Basement-Muffinterm4.png

    • Like 4

    Lyle Earl, long time behind the scenes BBS Express! PRO beta tester has passed away Nov. Notification.

    in BBS SysOps

    Posted

    1 minute ago, _The Doctor__ said:

    Be it known that Lyle Earl, long time behind the scenes beta tester for BBS Express! PRO and other related software has passed away.

    Information from his girlfriend has been spartan, but the full story will be along in the course of time.

    Thanks for the information. Was he a beta tester in the beginning (i.e., during Orion Microsystems ownership)?  I do not recognize the name.  Did he use a handle back in the day?  What was the name of his BBS?

     

    -JP
     

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