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Atari 8-bit related BBS(s)


svenski

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3 hours ago, Tillek said:

 

But hey, it is what it is.  I'm in no position to judge.  I'm just saying that the time to act is now.  You're on a forum?  You can use SyncTerm.  You'll help support the BBSs that are here, now.  Call on real hardware later.... assuming we're even here when you finally get that figured out.

 

 

 

And there are also web interfaces (although they do not support ATASCII, they do support ANSI which works great with ST BBSs and BBS Express Pro! BBSs).

 

-JP
 

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4 hours ago, Tillek said:

Well, to be honest... there are two reasons.

 

First, the Commodore scene on anything is bigger than the Atari scene.  But I was also into calling a few Apple II BBS's and it was kind of the same progression as the Atari ones.

 

And... ok... so this won't be popular.....

 

The Atari crowd, as you might have noticed... is more about talking about BBSing on internet forums than actually calling and contributing.  In fact, if you're following the names, you'll see certain names that tend to be big posters on the internet forums... but you're probably wondering what BBS's they call.  I'm even calling myself out here... As a Sysop, I go through long periods of inactivity.  But there are some SysOps in this Atari (I don't use the term community) group that don't even call their own boards very often, and even rarer still, others.

 

It happens. People get busy...

 

Even with the FujiNet.... how many are calling, but not contributing?  As far as I'm concerned, those users aren't helping... They're actually hurting.  I have a few regulars on SFHQ who call very often, but have never posted a single message.  Why?  You're just tying up the BBS for someone who might contribute.  Easy ways to connect have been around for awhile for those who really care... but too many don't care.

 

When you have a user base the size of the Commodore users, even if only a fraction of a percent contribute, that's huge.  But look at the Atari scene.  Something we SysOps were talking about recently.... Count the numbers of active posting contributors.  It's the same handful of people talking about different topics over all the BBS's.  Probably half being the SysOps.  It's funny how it doesn't take that much!

 

So I changed this not to call out a laundry list of individuals... but let's do it like this.

 

So let's take for example xxxxxx.  Xxxxx is a very active poster in any thread and even is a big help in (select from archiving software, technical help connecting, etc) but when was the last time xxxxx posted something or even called some of the BBS's except to maybe look at a (insert specific non-message-posting-related thing) they were interested in.

 

The Atari community is so small compared to the Commodore community that the same fraction of a percent... doesn't lead to as much.

 

Sure, there are a lot of excuses.  I've used them myself.  I want to connect with real hardware but don't have the time to set it up.  I just want to make sure I have the time to go through the old messages.  I want to this... I need to that... I blah.

 

iBlah.............. now there is something....

 

Just look at the membership list of the BBS club here on AtariAge.  57 members.  Could you imagine if each one posted a message every day?  Just one.  What about just one a week?

 

How many contributing users are actually keeping the community as alive as it is?  Far fewer than 57.  And these are 57 people who supposedly specifically care about the Atari BBS scene.

 

 

But hey, it is what it is.  I'm in no position to judge.  I'm just saying that the time to act is now.  You're on a forum?  You can use SyncTerm.  You'll help support the BBSs that are here, now.  Call on real hardware later.... assuming we're even here when you finally get that figured out.

 

And don't even think of running one, if you can't be bothered to call one!

 

But... that's just my view.

All very valid points, I actually didn't consider the popularity of the two platforms.

 

I love the BBS scene probably slightly more than the public forums, every night I try to log into my two favorite Atari BBS's as well as the occasional post on Level 29, as it's naturally fairly busy and it's good to hear about all the other platforms out there connecting to the BBS scene.

 

We were chatting on Particles the other night (which also has an Atari section BTW) and one member mentioned how the issues regarding R: Handlers and outside connectivity on the Mister platform might be holding things back - It appears the current developers of the A8 core are fairly clueless when it comes to getting the device connected to the online world? I couldn't really comment as I don't own a Mister.

 

I used SyncTerm before I got my 600XL and it worked great, run it on a Pi400 and you even sort of get the retro feels.

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22 hours ago, Tillek said:

Well... I'm also almost embarrassed to have not mentioned it.

 

But a lot (if not most) of the credit has to go to the new blood (not just the recent new users, but the new-ish SysOps like JP and AMIS and others) who breathed a lot of new life into it and helped get us old jaded guys off our asses!

 

 

Who you callin' old!?    :)

 

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On 6/12/2021 at 2:24 PM, Tillek said:

If I had to give a reason... people are fed up with the world of today's internet (or just fed up with the world).  BBSs have a kind of personality that a forum just doesn't.  Even calling something a forum "community" is just BS.  There is no "community".

 

But when you log on to a BBS... You're in Mark's little corner of the world.... or Robs... or Ron's... or James' or Andy's....   Even though people are on the other side of the world, we still have that neighborhood closeness from back in the day.

 

/s

 

Amen, brother!  :)

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

on a side note... the drive seems to have been partially formatted with MyDOS... which is interesting in that, none of the hard drive partitions were ever formatted with that DOS and only a Copy of MyDOS was in the uploads/downloads.... all of the drives were either realdos or spartados drives on the hard drive...

the good news is some of the data may be recoverable... the bad news is only a handful of folks should have had any access to be able to do such a thing... there is no possible way a saved file within a folder for the filebase on different partition could possibly be booted and run due to a power failure or other such happening... so it looks like a sector copy etc. was performed from the DOS shell... I'll have to eak out what I can... since I hadn't been near the BBS in quite some time. That leaves us with one heck of an accident by an OP or superUser... perhaps they drank too much? or something worse... since no one has said er umm I may have done an oops while trying to back up this or that.... such an occurrence hasn't happened not even once since starship first went online in the 80's... so there is hope... only the first sectors of the partition should be filled with whatever crap mydos does to boot and link itself... perhaps overwriting only those sectors a person would copy or format/initialize/sector copy.... so boot sectors and dos files worth of data or the first 720/1440 sectors maybe?

I forget what the utility was that would pull spartados files from sectors and copy them to another drive spec when the disk directory/boot sectors were damaged... anyone recall it? This could really help out... I don't have the patience to do it by hand anymore....

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6 hours ago, _The Doctor__ said:

 

I forget what the utility was that would pull spartados files from sectors and copy them to another drive spec when the disk directory/boot sectors were damaged... anyone recall it? This could really help out... I don't have the patience to do it by hand anymore....

SpartaDos DSKRX - hope it works! 

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15 hours ago, _The Doctor__ said:

on a side note... the drive seems to have been partially formatted with MyDOS... which is interesting in that, none of the hard drive partitions were ever formatted with that DOS and only a Copy of MyDOS was in the uploads/downloads.... all of the drives were either realdos or spartados drives on the hard drive...

the good news is some of the data may be recoverable... the bad news is only a handful of folks should have had any access to be able to do such a thing... there is no possible way a saved file within a folder for the filebase on different partition could possibly be booted and run due to a power failure or other such happening... so it looks like a sector copy etc. was performed from the DOS shell... I'll have to eak out what I can... since I hadn't been near the BBS in quite some time. That leaves us with one heck of an accident by an OP or superUser... perhaps they drank too much? or something worse... since no one has said er umm I may have done an oops while trying to back up this or that.... such an occurrence hasn't happened not even once since starship first went online in the 80's... so there is hope... only the first sectors of the partition should be filled with whatever crap mydos does to boot and link itself... perhaps overwriting only those sectors a person would copy or format/initialize/sector copy.... so boot sectors and dos files worth of data or the first 720/1440 sectors maybe?

I forget what the utility was that would pull spartados files from sectors and copy them to another drive spec when the disk directory/boot sectors were damaged... anyone recall it? This could really help out... I don't have the patience to do it by hand anymore....

Just another thing to consider... hopefully it was an accident and the person who did it will step forward so the mystery was resolved.

 

But assuming that's not the case, another thing to consider... do any of the people with the required access have a really easy to guess password (atari), and perhaps a user number in the low range?

 

 

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  • 1 month later...

Just wanted to announce that I've switched The DarkForce! BBS from using a Lantronix UDS-10

to a WiModem 232.

 

https://www.cbmstuff.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=59_66&product_id=60%3f

 

This means that we are now using "raw" for translation instead of "telnet".

 

We've tested with multiple setups and uploading and downloading seems to be fully functional

again.

 

If you're using Windows 7, Windows 10, MacOS, Kubuntu Linux, etc, then SyncTerm is one of,

if not the best choices for calling in.

 

https://syncterm.bbsdev.net/

 

If you're using an Atari ST, then TAZ, STalker, ANSITerm, Freeze Dried Terminal and Flash have

all been successfully used.

 

People from the 8bit community have reported their setups working fine as well (just remember

to use 80 columns for the best results).

 

If you're currently calling in with a WiModem 232, then just make sure that your translation is

set to "raw" as well. Just do an "at*t0" (that's the default anyway) and save with "at&w".

 

If you're using a Lantronix UDS-10, then you can use the following settings to put it into "raw"

mode:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*** Lantronix Universal Device Server ***
Serial Number xxxxxxx  MAC address xxxxxxxxxxx
Software version V5.8.0.5 (060724) LTX
Password :
Press Enter for Setup Mode


*** basic parameters
Hardware: Ethernet Autodetect
IP addr 192.168.xx.xxx, no gateway set
Telnet config password set

*** Security
SNMP is              enabled
SNMP Community Name: public
Telnet Setup is      enabled
TFTP Download is     enabled
Port 77FEh is        enabled
Web Server is        enabled
ECHO is              disabled
Enhanced Password is disabled

*** Channel 1
Baudrate 19200, I/F Mode 4C, Flow 00
Port 10001
Connect Mode : 56
Auto increment source port disabled
Remote IP Adr: --- none ---, Port 00000
Disconn Mode : 81
Flush   Mode : 00

*** Expert
TCP Keepalive    : 45s
ARP cache timeout: 600s
Monitor Mode @ bootup : enabled
HTTP Port Number : 80

Change Setup:
  0 Server
  1 Channel 1
  5 Expert
  6 Security
  7 Factory defaults
  8 Exit without save
  9 Save and exit            Your choice ?

----------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Thanks everyone (and a big thanks to everyone who's helped

with testing and advice/suggestions during our changeover).

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...
5 hours ago, Amis said:

Hmmm - Area Code?

I believe 416. We were still 7 digit dial back then but Im pretty sure 416. Also its forums were express net i think it was called? 
 

that and the jail were my favourite a8 bbses and there was also i belive the dragons den sysop the nobleman 

 

 

man i wish these people were still around now that i think back. I was like the youngest person on the board so i guess i never connected enough to stay in touch but i spend so much time with these people and learned so much from them and miss them these days. Got back into heavy a8 use and it made a long time ago feel like yesterday and now i just miss some old contacts.

 

i guess its weird but im just being honest.

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1 hour ago, oo7 said:

I believe 416. We were still 7 digit dial back then but Im pretty sure 416. Also its forums were express net i think it was called? 
 

that and the jail were my favourite a8 bbses and there was also i belive the dragons den sysop the nobleman 

 

 

man i wish these people were still around now that i think back. I was like the youngest person on the board so i guess i never connected enough to stay in touch but i spend so much time with these people and learned so much from them and miss them these days. Got back into heavy a8 use and it made a long time ago feel like yesterday and now i just miss some old contacts.

 

i guess its weird but im just being honest.

It happens.  Hopefully they are still around.

 

I wasn't as lucky.  All the Akron area Atari BBS Icons I was able to track down had obituaries. :(

 

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55 minutes ago, Tillek said:

It happens.  Hopefully they are still around.

 

I wasn't as lucky.  All the Akron area Atari BBS Icons I was able to track down had obituaries. :(

 

Sorry to hear, sweet marie and the nobleman were young enough at the time that im sure they are still alive, i hope anyway.

 

 

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3 hours ago, oo7 said:

I believe 416. We were still 7 digit dial back then but Im pretty sure 416. Also its forums were express net i think it was called? 
 

that and the jail were my favourite a8 bbses and there was also i belive the dragons den sysop the nobleman 

 

 

man i wish these people were still around now that i think back. I was like the youngest person on the board so i guess i never connected enough to stay in touch but i spend so much time with these people and learned so much from them and miss them these days. Got back into heavy a8 use and it made a long time ago feel like yesterday and now i just miss some old contacts.

 

i guess its weird but im just being honest.

 

I couldn't find anything on those BBSs you mentioned...but here's some Atari 8 bit BBSs from the 416 area code that were running BBS Express Pro!

 

Pro! Node #59 The 19th Hole 416-648-8359

Pro! Node #63 Microstop III 416-264-3028
Pro! Node #129 OMNI 416-549-5276
Pro! Node #138 221b baker Street 416-466-5447
Pro! Node #201 The Stupid BBS 416-422-2593

Do any of those ring a bell? ;-)

 

-JP
 

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8 hours ago, JohnPolka said:

 

I couldn't find anything on those BBSs you mentioned...but here's some Atari 8 bit BBSs from the 416 area code that were running BBS Express Pro!

 

Pro! Node #59 The 19th Hole 416-648-8359

Pro! Node #63 Microstop III 416-264-3028
Pro! Node #129 OMNI 416-549-5276
Pro! Node #138 221b baker Street 416-466-5447
Pro! Node #201 The Stupid BBS 416-422-2593

Do any of those ring a bell? ;-)

 

-JP
 

They do.

 

 

Wow The Jail (SYsop the warden) ran into the 2000s from the 80s and was very popular it was Express PRO

 

The Echo died a little sooner but was Express PRO popular and networked its forums

 

Dragons Den was forem but was 905 area code

 

cant remember if echo was 905 or 416 i think 416 though

 

 

 

Jail 416-762-9316
Node: 335 Baud: 14.4k Vers: 5.0b
Sysop: The Warden (Stewart Pitchford 416-xxx-xxxx)
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
 

 

The Wall

sysop roger waters

416-242-7746

 

The Forbidden zone 

 

Toronto Forem 416-266-9010

 

 

 

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3 hours ago, oo7 said:

They do.

 

 

Wow The Jail (SYsop the warden) ran into the 2000s from the 80s and was very popular it was Express PRO

 

The Echo died a little sooner but was Express PRO popular and networked its forums

 

Dragons Den was forem but was 905 area code

 

cant remember if echo was 905 or 416 i think 416 though

 

 

 

Jail 416-762-9316
Node: 335 Baud: 14.4k Vers: 5.0b
Sysop: The Warden (Stewart Pitchford 416-xxx-xxxx)
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
 

 

The Wall

sysop roger waters

416-242-7746

 

The Forbidden zone 

 

Toronto Forem 416-266-9010

 

 

 

You can find some Atari BBSs in area code 416 here (including the Wall and the Forbidden Zone):


http://bbslist.textfiles.com/416/

 

and there's a couple listed for area code 905 too:

 

http://bbslist.textfiles.com/905/

 

-JP
 

 



 

 



 

 

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2 minutes ago, JohnPolka said:

You can find some Atari BBSs in area code 416 here (including the Wall and the Forbidden Zone):


http://bbslist.textfiles.com/416/

 

and there's a couple listed for area code 905 too:

 

http://bbslist.textfiles.com/905/

 

-JP
 

 



 

 



 

 

Thanks, not all listed. Mine isnt there and echo isnt there. I started on a8 then moved to st and ran from 91 to 97

 

Echo was so popular i dunno why its not listed anywhere. Ppl as far as germany knew it back in the day, it was also the first a8 bbs i remember that networked its forum. The sysop of that board and the wall and myself also knew in real life eric march fansi author

 

dont know if he remembers me. Last time i saw him i was at the walls home playing playstation with them. Like 4 lifetimes ago lol

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7 hours ago, oo7 said:

Thanks, not all listed. Mine isnt there and echo isnt there. I started on a8 then moved to st and ran from 91 to 97

 

Echo was so popular i dunno why its not listed anywhere. Ppl as far as germany knew it back in the day, it was also the first a8 bbs i remember that networked its forum. The sysop of that board and the wall and myself also knew in real life eric march fansi author

 

dont know if he remembers me. Last time i saw him i was at the walls home playing playstation with them. Like 4 lifetimes ago lol

Maybe now focus on the Active Atari BBS’s - heres the list

 

http://sfhqbbs.org/ataribbslist.php  

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26 minutes ago, Amis said:

Maybe now focus on the Active Atari BBS’s - heres the list

 

http://sfhqbbs.org/ataribbslist.php  

As soon as I get my 130 XE and 1050 Happy drive I will be putting up Forem XE on Spy Visits Spy BBS.....I can use the address of christfollowersbbs.ca on port 1985 when it goes online.....

Russ

 

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8 hours ago, oo7 said:

Thanks, not all listed. Mine isnt there and echo isnt there. I started on a8 then moved to st and ran from 91 to 97

 

Echo was so popular i dunno why its not listed anywhere. Ppl as far as germany knew it back in the day, it was also the first a8 bbs i remember that networked its forum. The sysop of that board and the wall and myself also knew in real life eric march fansi author

 

dont know if he remembers me. Last time i saw him i was at the walls home playing playstation with them. Like 4 lifetimes ago lol

 

You can submit additions/corrections to the BBS lists in my previous message using the following link:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf_YkRd1ekk5Z0A05Ixx-tIhPuO3rYGX2XZzYx3WXT3bzPFkg/viewform

-JP

 

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1 hour ago, rcamp48 said:

As soon as I get my 130 XE and 1050 Happy drive I will be putting up Forem XE on Spy Visits Spy BBS.....I can use the address of christfollowersbbs.ca on port 1985 when it goes online.....

Russ

 

 I don’t recognize your handle or recall having seen you on my BBS’s or the other Atari boards each of us support daily. Have you been contributing to the Atari BBS’s on the list? What handle do you go by? Which of the boards do you call?

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11 hours ago, JohnPolka said:

 

You can submit additions/corrections to the BBS lists in my previous message using the following link:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf_YkRd1ekk5Z0A05Ixx-tIhPuO3rYGX2XZzYx3WXT3bzPFkg/viewform

-JP

 

Just as a note, this is to submit changes to the historical list, not the "current" Atari one. (For that, just get with me or pretty much any of the SysOps who frequent here... they know where to find me)

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