Atari 8-bit related BBS(s)

[+DarkLord]

Well, having some connectivity problems again at DarkForce.

 

Working on narrowing down what the problem is (same problem

we had about 1-2 months ago that just disappeared).

 

Just telneting in from my laptop standing beside my Mega ST4,

you can watch the UD10 answer, then it just randomly D/Cs.

 

Apologies to everyone for the inconvenience!

[_The Doctor__]

reset the uds to factory and update all the firmware, set it all back up and make sure the wires and dtr settings are good... sometimes they get flakey, a refresh of this kind can save it, if it get too messed up it can fail for good. Make sure the outside world can't reach the config or monitor mode , shut down all but the bbs port to the outside world. It doesn't matter if it's already at the last version, we are looking to get the flash to map out anything bad and set up shop on firmer ground.. you can always open the uds case and make sure no bugs got in, and all is firmly seated and clean. not much to play with in there but you never know, spiders have been known to spin their sacks in electronics..

Edited November 25, 2018 by _The Doctor__

[Tillek]

Well, having some connectivity problems again at DarkForce.

 

Working on narrowing down what the problem is (same problem

we had about 1-2 months ago that just disappeared).

 

Just telneting in from my laptop standing beside my Mega ST4,

you can watch the UD10 answer, then it just randomly D/Cs.

 

Apologies to everyone for the inconvenience!

Yeah... I've been having the same issue for awhile now. Log in... random disconnect... usually before I even get to look at one or two new messages.

 

Part of why I haven't called in awhile.

[JohnPolka]

It's been pretty quiet here lately. Where's Kyle and the Resistance BBS? I haven't been able to log onto it in a week or two.

 

In other news, 1 year ago today, The Part-Time BBS returned online after a nearly 18 year hiatus! Part-Time was the longest running Atari 8 bit BBS in the Cleveland Ohio area. It was originally online from 1985 to early 2000. My step dad ran it and I restored it last year. You can read more about it at the following link:

 

http://ptbbs.ddns.net:7000/pt.html

 

Thank you everyone for a great year! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

 

-JP

[Kyle22]

Something is wrong with the clock. The time jumps all over. I have cleaned the R:Time8 carts pins. I still haven't been able to nail down the problem.

[+Stephen]

It's been pretty quiet here lately. Where's Kyle and the Resistance BBS? I haven't been able to log onto it in a week or two.

 

In other news, 1 year ago today, The Part-Time BBS returned online after a nearly 18 year hiatus! Part-Time was the longest running Atari 8 bit BBS in the Cleveland Ohio area. It was originally online from 1985 to early 2000. My step dad ran it and I restored it last year. You can read more about it at the following link:

 

http://ptbbs.ddns.net:7000/pt.html

 

Thank you everyone for a great year! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

 

-JP

Hmm - I wonder if I have a copy of the old phone number stored? I was in Green back in 87 when I started BBSing, and it was local only calls. This was 216 area code, but there were plenty of other 216 area codes that were long distance. Man - people may bitch about cell phone companies now, but does anyone remember how bad the phone companies screwed people over in the 80s, 90s?!?

[JohnPolka]

Hmm - I wonder if I have a copy of the old phone number stored? I was in Green back in 87 when I started BBSing, and it was local only calls. This was 216 area code, but there were plenty of other 216 area codes that were long distance. Man - people may bitch about cell phone companies now, but does anyone remember how bad the phone companies screwed people over in the 80s, 90s?!?

 

The original number to Part-Time was 216-582-1196. The Basement (my personal BBS) had the number 216-381-7859. Akron/Canton was a part of 216 for awhile there too, but it was a long distance call to Cleveland. Lake County was also a part of 216, but it was a long distance call to Cleveland unless you paid the phone company an extra flat fee per month. Back around 1989, we networked with a BBS in Canton called The Rising Power. Its phone number was 216-454-2237. You can see some archived messages from that BBS today in message base #30 on Part-Time.

 

-JP

[JohnPolka]

Something is wrong with the clock. The time jumps all over. I have cleaned the R:Time8 carts pins. I still haven't been able to nail down the problem.

 

Did you also try replacing the battery?

[Kyle22]

 

Did you also try replacing the battery?

It was new 6 months ago, but I'll try it.

 

Edit: Does it rely on the battery when it is powered on 24/7?

Edited December 25, 2018 by Kyle22

[Tillek]

It was new 6 months ago, but I'll try it.

 

Edit: Does it rely on the battery when it is powered on 24/7?

Not sure about relying on it, but I know the last one I put in my BBS RT8 didn't last long at all.... Sometimes with the button batteries it's hard to tell how long they've been sitting on a shelf.

 

But I don't think I got more than 8 months on my last battery.

[+DarkLord]

Okay after 2-3 months of really random and sporadic disconnects, I think I've got it fixed.

 

(keeping fingers crossed)

 

After showing no symptoms at all during this time, my UDS10 finally started displaying a

red LED with 4 blinking green lights. According to the manual, that's an EEPROM checksum

error.

 

I had re-flashed, re-updated, re-configured, re everything several times, all of which made no

difference.

 

So I replaced it with one of my backup UDS10's this morning. Hopefully that'll be the end of that.

 

If anyone has any problems please let me know ASAP.

 

Thanks for being patient everyone!

[_The Doctor__]

As I had said, the battery must be good or you will get erratic results, I use lithium buttons in parallel to make mine last for years, the single button cell ones from China leave me high and dry too many time. Wrong dates and times or complete clock resets with their cheap no name batteries. I'd get some quality, lithium batteries and parallel them, I soldered leads and tacked them to the appropriate pads..

[_The Doctor__]

Okay after 2-3 months of really random and sporadic disconnects, I think I've got it fixed.

 

(keeping fingers crossed)

 

After showing no symptoms at all during this time, my UDS10 finally started displaying a

red LED with 4 blinking green lights. According to the manual, that's an EEPROM checksum

error.

 

I had re-flashed, re-updated, re-configured, re everything several times, all of which made no

difference.

 

So I replaced it with one of my backup UDS10's this morning. Hopefully that'll be the end of that.

 

If anyone has any problems please let me know ASAP.

 

Thanks for being patient everyone!

that's a shame, it's too far gone to map out the bad spots, that leaves you to replacing the eeprom... so swapping is all you could do.

[+Stephen]

Okay after 2-3 months of really random and sporadic disconnects, I think I've got it fixed.

 

(keeping fingers crossed)

 

After showing no symptoms at all during this time, my UDS10 finally started displaying a

red LED with 4 blinking green lights. According to the manual, that's an EEPROM checksum

error.

 

I had re-flashed, re-updated, re-configured, re everything several times, all of which made no

difference.

 

So I replaced it with one of my backup UDS10's this morning. Hopefully that'll be the end of that.

 

If anyone has any problems please let me know ASAP.

 

Thanks for being patient everyone!

Awesome - I'll test later this evening. I took a two week vacation, and I I have a new work office setup. Full-time Atari setup (4 systems into a Sony PVM via s-video & audio switcher) next to this work setup too. So I now have the ability and desire to have an Atari coding platform. Just need to get APE setup on the new machine.

[Tillek]

Okay after 2-3 months of really random and sporadic disconnects, I think I've got it fixed.

 

(keeping fingers crossed)

 

After showing no symptoms at all during this time, my UDS10 finally started displaying a

red LED with 4 blinking green lights. According to the manual, that's an EEPROM checksum

error.

 

I had re-flashed, re-updated, re-configured, re everything several times, all of which made no

difference.

 

So I replaced it with one of my backup UDS10's this morning. Hopefully that'll be the end of that.

 

If anyone has any problems please let me know ASAP.

 

Thanks for being patient everyone!

I'll try getting on when I get home.... I barely could make it to the main menu, so we should be able to figure out if there was progress.

[+DarkLord]

that's a shame, it's too far gone to map out the bad spots, that leaves you to replacing the eeprom... so swapping is all you could do.

 

Pretty much. I now have -2- non working UDS10's in my collection. Makes me sad.

[+DarkLord]

 

Awesome - I'll test later this evening. I took a two week vacation, and I I have a new work office setup. Full-time Atari setup (4 systems into a Sony PVM via s-video & audio switcher) next to this work setup too. So I now have the ability and desire to have an Atari coding platform. Just need to get APE setup on the new machine.

 

 

That sounds like a nice setup. I hope your vacation feels like 6 weeks!

[+DarkLord]

I'll try getting on when I get home.... I barely could make it to the main menu, so we should be able to figure out if there was progress.

 

Yeah, it was bad. So random too - one time I'd get halfway through a call, another time 10 seconds in, another time, right

after checking msgs, etc, etc,... Really erratic.

[gozar]

 

Awesome - I'll test later this evening. I took a two week vacation, and I I have a new work office setup. Full-time Atari setup (4 systems into a Sony PVM via s-video & audio switcher) next to this work setup too. So I now have the ability and desire to have an Atari coding platform. Just need to get APE setup on the new machine.

 

 

I think we all need pics on this!

[Kyle22]

I'll get a new CR2032 tomorrow. I have lots of them downstairs at the store. It's really strange how it acts. One second it's 9:43, then the next it's 9:53 (or 10:53). It's usually the hour or minute that jumps back and forth. It always returns to normal time after a while until it does it again.

[_The Doctor__]

after you change the batteries use several different y2k compliant tdlines set it in military and am pm on each one, and set the date as well, watch each for a day.. there were some wonky patches and tdlines out there, not all of them handled 50/60hz correctly either. I think the later SDX has it nailed down though, it's been noted somewhere...

Edited December 27, 2018 by _The Doctor__

[+Stephen]

 

I think we all need pics on this!

Monitors on the main desk are just old placeholders. I am shopping today, can't decide if I want to do dual monitors or one large one. They will be VESA mounted and off the desk. Pictures on the wall will be changing, when I first moved in this room was intended to be dad's office and a sewing room for mom. It sat pretty much unsed for 3.5 years.

 

Sony 14" PVM currently has 1st generation PSX and my PAL 1088XEL

 

I finally have space to properly do bills, paperwork, and any drafting/drawing

 

Beautiful view out the window

[Tillek]

 

Pretty much. I now have -2- non working UDS10's in my collection. Makes me sad.

I've got 2 non-working MSS 100's.

[+Stephen]

Can't they simply be repaired by just swapping in a good EPROM?

[Kyle22]

I'll get a new CR2032 tomorrow. I have lots of them downstairs at the store. It's really strange how it acts. One second it's 9:43, then the next it's 9:53 (or 10:53). It's usually the hour or minute that jumps back and forth. It always returns to normal time after a while until it does it again.

Yeah, I forgot to get again today. I DID put some voltage into the old one for a few minutes, and it seems to be working correctly (for now). I *WILL* install a new one tomorrow.

I have set an alarm on my iPhone to remind me