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Are there Any Old Fashion Dial Up BBS's Left?


DavidMil

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The odd thing is my fax machine works just fine with Magicjack. I'll have to look into this ooma. Anyone else have success using modems with voip?

Fax is a totally different protocol and their codec is designed to support it.

I ended up getting a line with fios that works perfect at any baud rate.

 

Greg

 

Sent from my LG-H830 using Tapatalk

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I bought a USB modem several years ago, this model I think http://www.frys.com/product/8843652?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PGIt ran OK for a couple of years but then went south on me. I'll probably be dropping my land line this year as I get 10 crank calls a day from telemarketers and only 4 calls a month from real humans.<sic>

 

IMHO: Lots of USB modems for sale at lower price points then the Hiro. Considering the fate of mine, I would give them a try as the expensive Hiro ended up just as dead.

Edited by ricortes
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I would recommend something faster than 300 BAUD, the SX212(1200 BAUD) is a better modem and can be used on either SIO or RS232 port.

It does this by integrating an R-Verter interface inside the modem, to use it via SIO the R-Verter handler needs to be loaded.

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Thank you for the info... just gotta find a modem now ;)

 

Roger

 

I would recommend something faster than 300 BAUD, the SX212(1200 BAUD) is a better modem and can be used on either SIO or RS232 port.

It does this by integrating an R-Verter interface inside the modem, to use it via SIO the R-Verter handler needs to be loaded.

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  • 4 years later...

I have a dialup BBS running from a Magic Jack at a number in Caifornia, USA, the number to call is 1-760-565-9460, 9600 Baud, I hear that 9600 Baud works OK on Magic Jack, I have 4 of them, 3 are new and have 12 months service on them. I wil be getting a few modem cards , does anyone know if they will work with Windows 10 64 bit ????

 

Russ

 

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  • 1 year later...

Heheh, used to have a 1030 back in the day. Only moved up to 1200 when I moved to ST. I was always envious of the 850/Hayes setups. Well I happened across a couple over the years, so when I leisurely amassed all the stuff I would need to use them I hooked it up for nostalgia sake. Wasn't expecting any live numbers and didn't find any, but it makes a decent cell phone finder  : D

 

Maybe I'll reacquire a 1030 or get another 850 and play around with setting up a BBS just for a lark. Cross off being a sysop on the bucket list  : D

 

01.jpg.b8d51ed6041c03f62231b25b6e2bbae4.jpg

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The current Atari BBS telnet list is at http://sfhqbbs.org/ataribbslist.php

 

Most of these (along with many others) are now reachable through dial-up via the dial up modem pool.

Information on this can be found at https://2600.network/

 

So yes, there are still BBS's available through dialup.  There are Atari BBS's still available through dialup.

 

SyncTerm is a good option for people who don't know if they want to go through the trouble of a retro setup to dial out yet.  It handles ATASCII and ANSI (which covers the A8 and ST BBSs)

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Since we are on the topic, are there any vintage / retro / whatever computers that will not work with a Haynes compatible external modem?

Like even with a serial port adapter, what software is available for that particular computer only works with "oem" hardware?

 

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4 hours ago, x=usr(1536) said:

I was totally unaware of this before you posted the link.  Very nice :-D

It's a kinda new thing.

 

Well, the dial up modem pool isn't new, and the Atari BBS list isn't new... but the 2600.Network guys taking the telnet BBS guide (most of which includes the Atari telnet BBS's) and setting up logins for pretty much all of them... is kinda new.

/s

^------ BBS Awareness

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3 hours ago, H454 said:

Since we are on the topic, are there any vintage / retro / whatever computers that will not work with a Haynes compatible external modem?

Like even with a serial port adapter, what software is available for that particular computer only works with "oem" hardware?

 

If it has a serial port adapter, you should be good to go.

 

Now whether there is a terminal program readily downloadable.... Maybe you can elaborate on something specific that is coming to your mind.

/s

 

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2 hours ago, invisible kid said:

It seems like the more popular systems had a fully compatible rs232 expansion port available in some way, and once you have that it's just a matter of software, but I don't know for sure.

That's about right... After all, that's why there are "standards" like RS232.

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So now this is the public service announcement part of this.

 

Part of why this news doesn't tend to come to AtariAge....

 

Actually, I'm just going to speak for MYSELF here...

 

I really hate nothing more than when something like this hits the forums, people ask for a lot of help on how to get things set up... you spend a lot of time helping them get set up.

They call... they look around... they say "that's cool".  Most of the time they don't even say "hi" on the message step that is pretty common when applying for an account.

 

.s

 

 

 

 

.help

help

 

/q

 

 

You know what I'm talking about.

 

They never call back.

 

 

The BBS community is actually active.  Not so active that if you miss a few days you'll hate yourself... but active enough there are some nice conversations with like minded people going on.  The troll factor is also somewhat limited.  It's a good group, and we can always use a few more.  It's way better than in 2013-16.  Not so active enough that we couldn't use a few more like minded people.

 

That said.  I (again, speaking only for myself though I wouldn't say I'm alone)... I don't need people wasting my time with "one call wonders".  If that's all you want to do... call once and move on... please try just looking at some of the videos ( https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcT2hyJ2c872iCqpduG3uVg/videos ) or call a BBS with "guest" capability.  You're tying up the system for people who will likely be productive (post messages, play games, etc).

 

I'm not trying to be mean or unfriendly... just that if you have no intention of being part of the community and want to relive the old days for 5 minutes before you pack your stuff up again.... don't interfere with it.  On the other hand, maybe you're just not sure, but you're cool about going in with an open mind, even if that means you won't come back... well... that's fine... WELCOME!

 

Also, if you're the kind who won't try SyncTerm (for a quick easy effortless way to "try before you buy") but instead want to tie up someone's time helping you set up your "real hardware" solution, so that you can call once......  Please know what you're doing.  Our time is valuable too, and we want to spend it where it can be the most useful for the most people.

 

But I'll end the rant here.  I'll just sum it up by saying that you probably noticed the AtariAge BBS pinned topic and the BBS Gurus club is really not that active.  It's not because the BBS community is not active.  Quite the opposite.  It's more active than it has been since I brought SFHQ back in 2013.  It's just that we're discussing BBS's, on the actual BBS's... and frankly, AtariAge has a lot of people who want to talk about BBSing on internet forums... but not actually call them.

 

Wishing them well... we'll be on the BBS's when they want to stop being posers. :P

 

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Now that aside.... if you think you might want to explore this... even if you decide ultimately it's not for you... fine!  Please don't take what I said to mean we don't want people to explore... just that if you're sure you don't want to do anything more than look at it once... well, watch the videos.  Otherwise... Please!  Come in!  Take a look around!

 

Synceterm is a great first step... You can use your PC or Mac, it handles ATASCII (in fact, I use it more often just because it's easier, even to call my own BBS).  It also does great ANSI (most ST BBS's have better ANSI than VT52, it's just what it is).

 

OOMA is a good service for modemers without landlines, though I have to say I've been a bit concerned about some things I'm hearing about a "non residential usage charge", it did work well with my Atari and actual modems.  As I posted earlier, most of the Atari BBS's are available through the dial up modem pool through 2600.network

 

WiModem232 is a great option if you have an 850 or PR connection (or R-Verter, MIO, etc) for the telnet/raw BBS's.

 

Just a note, pretty much all Atari BBS's are RAW, not TELNET, for SyncTerm and WIModem, Lantronix, etc.

 

Some are quite happy with Fujinet... some have had issues... so if you have one, go for it! (Big advice, don't hit the break key!)

 

Either way... it's an interesting adventure. 

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5 minutes ago, Tillek said:

 

OOMA is a good service for modemers without landlines, though I have to say I've been a bit concerned about some things I'm hearing about a "non residential usage charge", it did work well with my Atari and actual modems.  As I posted earlier, most of the Atari BBS's are available through the dial up modem pool through 2600.network

 

 

 

Interesting, several years ago (probably 2017) I tried to call with a modem on my Tandy CoCo 3 connected to my Ooma to call Fozztexx's BBS from the /r/retrobattlestations reddit.  I would get a connection, but too much garbage characters in between that I couldn't even create an account or login.  Tried all 300/1200/2400 baud, and got too much garbage with all of them.  But the modem did manage to make an initial connection.

 

Haven't tried anything since then, I figured the Ooma line just wasn't good enough.

 

 

 

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27 minutes ago, thanatos said:

 

Interesting, several years ago (probably 2017) I tried to call with a modem on my Tandy CoCo 3 connected to my Ooma to call Fozztexx's BBS from the /r/retrobattlestations reddit.  I would get a connection, but too much garbage characters in between that I couldn't even create an account or login.  Tried all 300/1200/2400 baud, and got too much garbage with all of them.  But the modem did manage to make an initial connection.

 

Haven't tried anything since then, I figured the Ooma line just wasn't good enough.

 

 

 

*99 puts it in fax mode, so you'll want to add that to the number you're dialing (so atdt *99 123-555-1212)

 

Can't speak for higher baud rates, but got a clear connection to SFHQ at (ok, my memory fails me, it was 1200 or 2400) with a USR courier...  (This was a few weeks ago).

 

I'm hoping to do an OOMA walkthrough at our next monthly BBS Zoom meeting, so maybe I'll come back with some good best practices.

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