I have an XEGS so I have an SIO and Cartridge ports. Was large created as a way to organize some notes.I would be interested in what WiFi adapters are available for the Atari 8-bit series and how you connect them to your 8-bit. These notes were madeĪs a step of preparation, while contemplating the idea of running a BBS.)ĭetermine the features of a BBS. Key features include:ĭoes it work with the operating system that is going to be running? DOS was common, back in the day. In this case, the term “COM port” refers to a software concept. Software could communicate to a serial port by communicating with an I/O port and IRQ. These interactive programs included games, but could also do other things, such as: Syncterm xmodem serial#Ĭode supporting such a “serial port” could support actual hardware “serial ports” (such as a DE9 port or a DB shell port), as well as internal modems that responded to the same hardware signals as the actual hardware serial ports. Verify that the person's phone number appeared to be legitimate.Īllowing a user to store up “time” in a “time bank”. (BBSs were often used rather heavily compared to the limited resource of how many phone lines could accept calls, so daily limits were often enforced. By letting a player store unused minutes on one day, it could allow the user to be allowed extra minutes on a later day. Syncterm xmodem download#Ī person with a slow modem could use this to be able to download a larger file without interruption. (These do get discussed in more detail later.) A person who was just going to leave town for the day could store up unused minutes that may be more useful at a later time. These used to be fairly popular, although now people have generally been getting interesting files from places other than a BBS. Back in the day, one way for a BBS to gain some popularity was to buy a CD-ROM drive, and have a CD filled with software that people could download. Many people who could connect to a BBS didn't have such a CD, or even a CD-ROM drive.Īllowing uploads involved having users type descriptions. BBS software might also support running some anti-malware checks. (For information on modern anti-malware software, see: protection software.)įor a related topic, see: file transfering (which is not specific to using a BBS). In theory, this could just be implemented by a door. A common feature was:Ĭhat with somebody else who is connected to the same BBS (on another node, which historically typically meant another “dial-up” phone line) Supporting multiple dial-up phone lines would require multiple modems, and multiple phone lines. Multiple phone lines would incur a regular (monthly) expense. I recall hearing/reading about one SysOp who figured out that phone companies get paid by other phone companies to receive incoming calls. So, when a customer of one phone company would call a customer of a second phone company, the second phone company was paid. This payment was more than what would be required for expenses, so this type of thing was profitable for the second phone company. When a popular BBS figured that out, it helped him when negotiating rates with the phone company. After all, all those phone lines were causing the phone company to get paid for the phone calls that were being received. Most BBS software could support running a “file transfer” protocol like HS/Link. However, this feature was to have the BBS check for any unexpected new files, and ask the user for a description of those files. QWK format (could be added via doors, but generally is integrated into the BBS software)įor BBS menus typically RIPScrip is supported by doors regardless of whether the BBS does.Īctually, pretty much any BBS software could display a menu with RIPScrip. Like how ANSI codes could be easily supported, this simply meant having RIP codes embedded in a file that gets sent. However, some BBSs would allow for trying to auto-detect RIPScrip, and backing up to ANSI detection if RIPScrip wasn't supported. That required fairly little effort on the part of the BBS software. The effect can be quite nice for anyone who has RIPScrip support in their terminal software.
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