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Re: [sudo-discuss] Wish list // setting up our own BBS ;)

by Hol Gaskill

it's not paranoia if they're really after you. also, we should have a screening of They Live at some point, speaking of them. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096256/ Apr 18, 2013 08:15:03 AM, romy(a)snowyla.com wrote: >I like this line. maybe we should set up a BBS! >4) The Tin-Foil-Hat Factor -- This one is a bit harder to fully explain. But let's say that you're not happy with the way things are going online in terms of privacy. Let's say that you are paranoid about people snooping in your email, reading your browser cache and cookies and monitoring your general online activity. Well. If you've got a BBS that is only accessible via SSH (Secure Shell)... things just got a lot more secure. Heck. I'd say it's a safe bet that most of the kids in hacker groups (like Anonymous) don't even know what a BBS is. > > > > > > http://lunduke.com/?p=2156 > > Lunduke.com » How To Set Up Your Own BBS – Be The King of 1989… Today! With the rise of the World Wide Intertubes, in the 19-Something-Or-Others, we saw the decline of the old-school, text based dial-up BBS. Luckily, that hasn't stopped many of us from continuing to use (and enjoy) the best that BBS-ing has to offer. Considering running your own BBS? Read on! What is a BBS? If you never had the joy of using a BBS (perhaps they were a bit before your time), here is the idea in a nutshell: A BBS is a system that you "call" (in the old days with a modem and an analog phone line) and interact with via a text and ANSI graphics (colorful ascii with a little animation) interface. There were a few key components to a BBS that closely mirror what we currently have available today on the internet: 1) Message Forums and Networks 2) Email 3) Online, multiplayer games 4) Downloadable files 5) Real-time Chat Nowadays it is entirely possible to run a BBS, that looks and acts just like a BBS from the 80's and 90's, and have that BBS accessible to anyone on the internet. Why run your own BBS? So let's say you decide you want to run a BBS of your very own -- thus making you a SysOp (System Operator). You really need to ask yourself one question: WHY?! I mean, let's be honest. It's not for the fame. And it's not for the mega-bucks that are going to come rolling in. So... why? 1) The Nostalgia Factor -- There is something inherently enjoyable about using systems the way they were used 20+ years ago. The experience isn't all that different from playing a video game you played as a kid and finding that it is still just as fun. 2) The Fun Factor -- There are some great multiplayer games available for BBS's. Some of the best, in fact. TradeWars and Legend of the Red Dragon being two of the most famous examples. If you enjoy MUD's and games that put game play, thinking, player interaction and, well, text above all else... you'll be right at home. 3) The Geek Factor -- How many people do you know that run a BBS? Seriously. Anyone can put up a website. Your grandma probably has a website. But do any of them run a telnet-accessible multi-node BBS? Instant Nerd-Cred. 4) The Tin-Foil-Hat Factor -- This one is a bit harder to fully explain. But let's say that you're not happy with the way things are going online in terms of privacy. Let's say that you are paranoid about people snooping in your email, reading your browser cache and cookies and monitoring your general online activity. Well. If you've got a BBS that is only accessible via SSH (Secure Shell)... things just got a lot more secure. Heck. I'd say it's a safe bet that most of the kids in hacker groups (like Anonymous) don't even know what a BBS is. In a nutshell: A person decides to run a BBS because he/she wants to. But, be warned. Setting up a BBS can be time consuming. Keeping a BBS running can be time consuming. Administering the users on your BBS... can be time consuming. Setting up a BBS is a lot like adopting a puppy. Time consuming. (But rewarding... if you like puppies.) Choosing BBS Software So, you're in. What next? Next step: figure out what BBS server software you want to run. Luckily, there are many options to choose from. Unfortunately... most are abandoned and not exactly super compatible with newer systems. I am going to talk about two of my personal favorite options that should cover most people's needs: Synchronet and Virtual Advanced. Both systems can handle many, many concurrent online users ("nodes"). Both support message forums, file downloads, games and chat. So let's look at where they differ. Synchronet is open source, still updated (though not necessarily all that often) and runs on Windows, Linux and FreeBSD. Virtual Advanced is closed source (though freely available), no longer in development and runs under DOS. (Yes. I did say this was one of my favorites. I'll explain a little further down.) Despite these, relatively massive, differences both systems are entirely capable of running an excellent BBS. More on getting these two setup in just a bit. (There are many other, very capable, BBS servers out there. Including EleBBS, WWIV, Wildcat! and Mystic. I am choosing to cover only Synchronet and Virtual Advanced here to keep things simple.) BBS Door Games A BBS "Door" is basically a piece of external software (usually a game). How it works is this: 1) A person calls your BBS, then chooses to run a "door game" from a menu that you have set up. 2) The BBS server software then generates what is called a "drop file" (often called "door.sys" or "chain.txt"). This is simply a text file that contains pieces of information that will tell the door software how to continue communicating with the person (connection info, user name, etc.). 3) The BBS server then launches the door software and instructs it where to look for that drop file. 4) When the user is done playing the game, the door software exits and returns control back to the BBS server. Now that you know the basics of how they work, you'll need to decide which (if any) you want on your system. This can be a rather huge task. Not only do you need to find out which games you like (and that your callers may like)... but you need to find a way to actually BUY these games (which are, often, long since abandoned). Luckily there are some games that are still supported (and usually very inexpensive), and various resources to get you started: John Dailey Software - John supports and sells some truly excellent games, including Barren Realms Elite (a personal favorite strategy game of mine). BBSFiles.com - This is a great collection of downloads of door games (as well as add-ons). What makes this site truly excellent is that it also provides many, many public (and legal) registration keys for long abandoned games. TradeWars - This is one of the most popular games out there (and for good reason). But purchasing a new license for the old (and unsupported) DOS door game version can be tricky. The new TradeWars server is developed and sold by EIS. If you really want a good, legal copy... your best bet is to contact them directly. Gameport - Want Legend of the Red Dragon? Hint: Your callers probably do. Gameport owns the rights and can sell you a registration for 15 bucks. They also have a few other BBS door games available for purchase for the same price. For each game you'll want to read through the supplied documentation for how to set it up with your BBS. Most likely you'll be making your BBS available via Telnet... which means you'll be ignoring any settings for "Com Ports" and the like for each game and instead relying on something called a "Fossil Driver". Choosing your OS and Hardware Hardware - The hardware requirements for running a BBS are... very small. Have an old PC lying around that can technically run semi-modern OS? Should be fine. Operating System - Choosing the OS you run your BBS server on is entirely personal. Linux or Windows (XP or newer) would be my recommendations. Here's what I'm running: Arch Linux running on an old Eee PC netbok (with a roughly 600mhz processor). Small. Cheap. Quiet. Low power. Linux Notes - I like Linux. But setting up DOS based Door games can be a bit more challenging under Linux (for obvious reasons). If you elect to use Synchronet (which is my recommended approach under Linux) here is a great tutorial on setting up door games for Synchronet under Linux using DOSEMU. It is also possible to use DOSBox to run your DOS door games, but this can be very problematic as DOSBox caches the file system... making it difficult to run games that have multiple, simultaneous online users (but not impossible... just very, very hard). For that reason I highly recommend the Synchronet/DOSEMU route. Network Connection - A great speed for using a BBS is roughly equivalent to an old 14.4 or 28.8 analog modem. This allows text to appear on the screen rapidly without making people wait. (Man. The days of 300 baud modems... life was tough!) Luckily, if you have any decently modern network connection you should be all set. If you want to be able to have 10 concurrent connections, you'll be looking at a maximum usage of about 280 kbit/sec. (And even that is unlikely unless people are downloading files). For a good example: My BBS (The House of Lunduke) has 20 lines. Even when all 20 lines are full of people playing games I don't even notice the network traffic on my FiOS line. What *is* important to consider is latency. While a satellite internet connection may have enough bandwidth to handle a BBS... the ping time is going to make your BBS almost unusable as you will end up waiting for an eternity every time you hit a key. The other big consideration here is how people will connect to your BBS. Will you have your own domain name? A static IP address (recommended)? If you do not have a static IP address (and your ISP refuses to give you one) you can sign up for a Dynamic DNS service. Getting Up And Running Ok. So you've chosen your hardware, OS and BBS software and you're ready to go. What now? Synchronet - So you chose Synchronet, eh? If you are running Windows go grab the installer from the Download page then follow these instructions. It's truly pretty straight forward. Running on Linux? You're going to need to build Synchronet from source and do some tweaking. Luckily there are excellent instructions available. Which I recommend following to the letter. Virtual Advanced - Running on Windows: 1) Go grab the Virtual Advanced Windows installer. 2) Then you'll need the VADV32 installer, which is supplied by Aspect Technologies. Remember when I said Virtual Advanced is no longer being developed? Luckily Aspect Technologies stepped up to the plate and built a great tool called VADV32 which acts as a telnet server and configuration front end for Virtual Advanced. Follow the instructions provided with VADV32. Running on Linux: Don't do it. VADV32 is necessary to have a good experience running Virtual Advanced as a telnet accessible BBS. And it is a Windows application. That said: I am running Virtual Advanced and VADV32 under Arch Linux using Wine (and other tools). It was a royal pain to get working properly. But I'm a stubborn Linux user who used to run Virtual Advanced on OS/2 "back in the day"... I chose that route for nostalgic reasons. So it's possible. If you really hate yourself and want to do this like I did, ask in the comments for this article and I will do my best to help with any issues you have. Additional Considerations Does your BBS need a website? If so, will you allow people to connect to your BBS via your website (via something such as FlashTerm or jsTerm). Will you promote your BBS on the various BBS list website out there (such as BBSFinder)? How much time/access will you give your users? How will you handle new users? Will you join a message network (such as FidoNet)? Lots and lots to consider. Far too many to list and answer. But if you have questions, just ask here and I (or others) may be able to point you in the right direction. My Thoughts on BBSing I feel that BBSing is genuinely important. Both as a leisure activity (a rather nerdy one), a communication mechanism and a way of preserving our past (and making that past accessible to everyone to see, experience and study). I would love to see more BBS's. If this interests you, dive in and have fun. What's the worst that can happen? Filed under: BBS | 9 Comments > >--- >Romy IlanoFounder of Snowylahttp://www.snowyla.comromy@snowyla.com > > > >_______________________________________________ >sudo-discuss mailing list >sudo-discuss(a)lists.sudoroom.org >http://lists.sudoroom.org/listinfo/sudo-discuss >

11 years, 8 months

Re: [sudo-discuss] Wish list // setting up our own BBS ;)

by Romy Ilano

I like this line. maybe we should set up a BBS! *4) The Tin-Foil-Hat Factor* -- This one is a bit harder to fully explain. But let's say that you're not happy with the way things are going online in terms of privacy. Let's say that you are paranoid about people snooping in your email, reading your browser cache and cookies and monitoring your general online activity. Well. If you've got a BBS that is only accessible via SSH <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_Shell> (Secure Shell)... things just got a lot more secure. Heck. I'd say it's a safe bet that most of the kids in hacker groups (like Anonymous<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anonymous_(group)>) don't even know what a BBS is. > http://lunduke.com/?p=2156 > > Lunduke.com » How To Set Up Your Own BBS – Be The King of 1989… Today! > > With the rise of the World Wide Intertubes, in the 19-Something-Or-Others, > we saw the decline of the old-school, text based dial-up BBS<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulletin_board_system> > . > > Luckily, that hasn't stopped many of us <http://lunduke.com/?page_id=1316>from continuing to use (and enjoy) the best that BBS-ing has to offer. > Considering running your own BBS? Read on! > What is a BBS? > > If you never had the joy of using a BBS <http://lunduke.com/?page_id=1314>(perhaps they were a bit before your time), here is the idea in a nutshell: > > A BBS is a system that you "call" (in the old days with a modem and an > analog phone line) and interact with via a text and ANSI<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANSI_art>graphics (colorful ascii with a little animation) interface. > > <http://lunduke.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/144external.jpg>There were > a few key components to a BBS that closely mirror what we currently have > available today on the internet: > > 1) Message Forums and Networks > > 2) Email > > 3) Online, multiplayer games > > 4) Downloadable files > > 5) Real-time Chat > > Nowadays it is entirely possible to run a BBS, that looks and acts just > like a BBS from the 80's and 90's, and have that BBS accessible to anyone > on the internet. > Why run your own BBS? > > So let's say you decide you want to run a BBS of your very own -- thus > making you a SysOp <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sysop> (System Operator). > > You really need to ask yourself one question: *WHY?!* > > I mean, let's be honest. It's not for the fame. And it's not for the > mega-bucks that are going to come rolling in. So... why? > > *1) The Nostalgia Factor* -- There is something inherently enjoyable > about using systems the way they were used 20+ years ago. The experience > isn't all that different from playing a video game you played as a kid and > finding that it is still just as fun. > > *2) The Fun Factor* -- There are some great multiplayer games available > for BBS's. Some of the best, in fact. TradeWars<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TradeWars_2002>and Legend > of the Red Dragon <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legend_of_the_Red_Dragon>being two of the most famous examples. If you enjoy > MUD <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MUD>'s and games that put game play, > thinking, player interaction and, well, text above all else... you'll be > right at home. > > *3) The Geek Factor* -- How many people do you know that run a BBS? > Seriously. Anyone can put up a website. Your grandma probably has a > website. But do any of them run a telnet-accessible multi-node BBS? > Instant Nerd-Cred. > > *4) The Tin-Foil-Hat Factor* -- This one is a bit harder to fully > explain. But let's say that you're not happy with the way things are going > online in terms of privacy. Let's say that you are paranoid about people > snooping in your email, reading your browser cache and cookies and > monitoring your general online activity. Well. If you've got a BBS that > is only accessible via SSH <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_Shell>(Secure Shell)... things just got a lot more secure. Heck. I'd say it's a > safe bet that most of the kids in hacker groups (like Anonymous<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anonymous_(group)>) > don't even know what a BBS is. > > In a nutshell: A person decides to run a BBS because he/she wants to. > > But, be warned. Setting up a BBS can be time consuming. Keeping a BBS > running can be time consuming. Administering the users on your BBS... can > be time consuming. > > Setting up a BBS is a lot like adopting a puppy. Time consuming. (But > rewarding... if you like puppies.) > Choosing BBS Software > > So, you're in. What next? > > Next step: figure out what BBS server software you want to run. > > Luckily, there are many options<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBS_Software>to choose from. Unfortunately... most are abandoned and not exactly super > compatible with newer systems. > > I am going to talk about two of my personal favorite options that should > cover most people's needs: Synchronet and Virtual Advanced. > > Both systems can handle many, many concurrent online users ("nodes"). > Both support message forums, file downloads, games and chat. So let's > look at where they differ. > > <http://www.synchro.net/><http://lunduke.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/synch.png>Synchronet > is open source, still updated (though not necessarily all that often) and > runs on Windows, Linux and FreeBSD. > > Virtual Advanced <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_Advanced> is > closed source (though freely available), no longer in development and runs > under DOS. (Yes. I did say this was one of my favorites. I'll explain a > little further down.) > > Despite these, relatively massive, differences both systems are entirely > capable of running an excellent BBS. More on getting these two setup in > just a bit. > > (There are many other, very capable, BBS servers out there. Including > EleBBS <http://elebbs.com/>, WWIV <http://wwiv.sourceforge.net/>, Wildcat!<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wildcat!_BBS>and > Mystic <http://www.mysticbbs.com/>. I am choosing to cover only > Synchronet and Virtual Advanced here to keep things simple.) > BBS Door Games > > A BBS "Door" is basically a piece of external software (usually a game). > How it works is this: > > 1) A person calls your BBS, then chooses to run a "door game" from a menu > that you have set up. > > 2) The BBS server software then generates what is called a "drop file" > (often called "door.sys" or "chain.txt"). This is simply a text file that > contains pieces of information that will tell the door software how to > continue communicating with the person (connection info, user name, etc.). > > 3) The BBS server then launches the door software and instructs it where > to look for that drop file. > > 4) When the user is done playing the game, the door software exits and > returns control back to the BBS server. > > <http://lunduke.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/bre.gif>Now that you know > the basics of how they work, you'll need to decide which (if any) you want > on your system. > > This can be a rather huge task. Not only do you need to find out which > games you like (and that your callers may like)... but you need to find a > way to actually BUY these games (which are, often, long since abandoned). > > Luckily there are some games that are still supported (and usually very > inexpensive), and various resources to get you started: > > *John Dailey Software <http://www.johndaileysoftware.com/>* - John > supports and sells some truly excellent games, including Barren Realms > Elite<http://www.johndaileysoftware.com/products/bbsdoors/barrenrealmselite/index…>(a personal favorite strategy game of mine). > > *BBSFiles.com <http://www.bbsfiles.com/>* - This is a great collection of > downloads of door games (as well as add-ons). What makes this site truly > excellent is that it also provides many, many public (and legal) > registration keys for long abandoned games. > > *TradeWars <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TradeWars_2002>* - This is one > of the most popular games out there (and for good reason). But purchasing > a new license for the old (and unsupported) DOS door game version can be > tricky. The new TradeWars server is developed and sold by EIS<http://www.eisonline.com/>. > If you really want a good, legal copy... your best bet is to contact them > directly. > > * <http://www.gameport.com/><http://lunduke.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/lord.jpeg> > Gameport* - Want Legend of the Red Dragon? Hint: Your callers probably > do. Gameport owns the rights and can sell you a registration for 15 bucks. > They also have a few other BBS door games available for purchase for the > same price. > > For each game you'll want to read through the supplied documentation for > how to set it up with your BBS. Most likely you'll be making your BBS > available via Telnet... which means you'll be ignoring any settings for > "Com Ports" and the like for each game and instead relying on something > called a "Fossil Driver <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FOSSIL>". > Choosing your OS and Hardware > > *Hardware -* > > The hardware requirements for running a BBS are... very small. Have an > old PC lying around that can technically run semi-modern OS? Should be > fine. > > *Operating System - * > > Choosing the OS you run your BBS server on is entirely personal. Linux or > Windows (XP or newer) would be my recommendations. > > Here's what I'm running: > > Arch Linux running on an old Eee PC netbok (with a roughly 600mhz > processor). > > Small. Cheap. Quiet. Low power. > > *Linux Notes - *I like Linux. But setting up DOS based Door games can be > a bit more challenging under Linux (for obvious reasons). If you elect to > use Synchronet (which is my recommended approach under Linux) here is a great > tutorial on setting up door games<http://www.synchro.net/docs/linux-dosemu.html>for Synchronet under Linux using > DOSEMU <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dosemu>. It is also possible to use DOSBox > to run your DOS door games <http://dosbox.bbsdev.net/>, but this can be > very problematic as DOSBox caches the file system... making it difficult to > run games that have multiple, simultaneous online users (but not > impossible... just very, very hard). For that reason I highly recommend > the Synchronet/DOSEMU route. > > *Network Connection - * > > A great speed for using a BBS is roughly equivalent to an old 14.4 or 28.8 > analog modem. This allows text to appear on the screen rapidly without > making people wait. (Man. The days of 300 baud modems... life was tough!) > > Luckily, if you have any decently modern network connection you should be > all set. If you want to be able to have 10 concurrent connections, you'll > be looking at a maximum usage of about 280 kbit/sec. (And even that is > unlikely unless people are downloading files). > > For a good example: My BBS (The House of Lunduke<http://lunduke.com/?page_id=1316>) > has 20 lines. Even when all 20 lines are full of people playing games I > don't even notice the network traffic on my FiOS line. > > What *is* important to consider is latency. While a satellite internet > connection may have enough bandwidth to handle a BBS... the ping time is > going to make your BBS almost unusable as you will end up waiting for an > eternity every time you hit a key. > > The other big consideration here is how people will connect to your BBS. > Will you have your own domain name? A static IP address (recommended)? > > If you do not have a static IP address (and your ISP refuses to give you > one) you can sign up for a Dynamic DNS<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_DNS>service. > Getting Up And Running > > Ok. So you've chosen your hardware, OS and BBS software and you're ready > to go. What now? > > *Synchronet -* > > So you chose Synchronet, eh? If you are running Windows go grab the > installer from the Download <http://www.synchro.net/download.html> page > then follow these instructions <http://wiki.synchro.net/install:win>. > It's truly pretty straight forward. > > Running on Linux? You're going to need to build Synchronet from source > and do some tweaking. Luckily there are excellent instructions available<http://wiki.synchro.net/install:nix>. > Which I recommend following to the letter. > > *Virtual Advanced -* > > Running on Windows: > > 1) Go grab the Virtual Advanced Windows installer<http://www.vadvbbs.com/products/vadv/downloads/index.php> > . > > 2) Then you'll need the VADV32 installer<http://www.vadvbbs.com/products/vadv32/downloads/index.php>, > which is supplied by Aspect Technologies<http://www.vadvbbs.com/index.php> > . > > Remember when I said Virtual Advanced is no longer being developed? > Luckily Aspect Technologies stepped up to the plate and built a great tool > called VADV32 <http://www.vadvbbs.com/products/vadv32/index.php> which > acts as a telnet server and configuration front end for Virtual Advanced. > Follow the instructions provided with VADV32. > > Running on Linux: > > Don't do it. VADV32 is necessary to have a good experience running > Virtual Advanced as a telnet accessible BBS. And it is a Windows > application. > > That said: I am running Virtual Advanced and VADV32 under Arch Linux using > Wine (and other tools). It was a royal pain to get working properly. But > I'm a stubborn Linux user who used to run Virtual Advanced on OS/2<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Os/2>"back in the day"... I chose that route for nostalgic reasons. So it's > possible. If you really hate yourself and want to do this like I did, ask > in the comments for this article and I will do my best to help with any > issues you have. > Additional Considerations > > Does your BBS need a website? If so, will you allow people to connect to > your BBS via your website (via something such as FlashTerm<http://www.flashterm.com/>or > jsTerm <http://jsterm.com/>). > > Will you promote your BBS on the various BBS list website out there (such > as BBSFinder <http://www.bbsfinder.com/>)? > > How much time/access will you give your users? How will you handle new > users? > > Will you join a message network (such as FidoNet <http://www.fidonet.org/> > )? > > Lots and lots to consider. Far too many to list and answer. But if you > have questions, just ask here and I (or others) may be able to point you in > the right direction. > My Thoughts on BBSing > > I feel that BBSing is genuinely important. Both as a leisure activity (a > rather nerdy one), a communication mechanism and a way of preserving our > past (and making that past accessible to everyone to see, experience and > study). > > I would love to see more BBS's. If this interests you, dive in and have > fun. What's the worst that can happen? [image: :)] > [image: Share Button] <http://www.hupso.com/share/> > > Filed under: BBS <http://lunduke.com/?cat=52> | 9 Comments<http://lunduke.com/?p=2156#comments> > > > --- > > Romy Ilano > Founder of Snowyla > http://www.snowyla.com > romy(a)snowyla.com > >

11 years, 8 months

Wish list // setting up our own BBS ;)

by Romy Ilano

http://lunduke.com/?p=2156 Lunduke.com » How To Set Up Your Own BBS – Be The King of 1989… Today! With the rise of the World Wide Intertubes, in the 19-Something-Or-Others, we saw the decline of the old-school, text based dial-up BBS. Luckily, that hasn't stopped many of us from continuing to use (and enjoy) the best that BBS-ing has to offer. Considering running your own BBS? Read on! What is a BBS? If you never had the joy of using a BBS (perhaps they were a bit before your time), here is the idea in a nutshell: A BBS is a system that you "call" (in the old days with a modem and an analog phone line) and interact with via a text and ANSI graphics (colorful ascii with a little animation) interface. There were a few key components to a BBS that closely mirror what we currently have available today on the internet: 1) Message Forums and Networks 2) Email 3) Online, multiplayer games 4) Downloadable files 5) Real-time Chat Nowadays it is entirely possible to run a BBS, that looks and acts just like a BBS from the 80's and 90's, and have that BBS accessible to anyone on the internet. Why run your own BBS? So let's say you decide you want to run a BBS of your very own -- thus making you a SysOp (System Operator). You really need to ask yourself one question: WHY?! I mean, let's be honest. It's not for the fame. And it's not for the mega-bucks that are going to come rolling in. So... why? 1) The Nostalgia Factor -- There is something inherently enjoyable about using systems the way they were used 20+ years ago. The experience isn't all that different from playing a video game you played as a kid and finding that it is still just as fun. 2) The Fun Factor -- There are some great multiplayer games available for BBS's. Some of the best, in fact. TradeWars and Legend of the Red Dragon being two of the most famous examples. If you enjoy MUD's and games that put game play, thinking, player interaction and, well, text above all else... you'll be right at home. 3) The Geek Factor -- How many people do you know that run a BBS? Seriously. Anyone can put up a website. Your grandma probably has a website. But do any of them run a telnet-accessible multi-node BBS? Instant Nerd-Cred. 4) The Tin-Foil-Hat Factor -- This one is a bit harder to fully explain. But let's say that you're not happy with the way things are going online in terms of privacy. Let's say that you are paranoid about people snooping in your email, reading your browser cache and cookies and monitoring your general online activity. Well. If you've got a BBS that is only accessible via SSH (Secure Shell)... things just got a lot more secure. Heck. I'd say it's a safe bet that most of the kids in hacker groups (like Anonymous) don't even know what a BBS is. In a nutshell: A person decides to run a BBS because he/she wants to. But, be warned. Setting up a BBS can be time consuming. Keeping a BBS running can be time consuming. Administering the users on your BBS... can be time consuming. Setting up a BBS is a lot like adopting a puppy. Time consuming. (But rewarding... if you like puppies.) Choosing BBS Software So, you're in. What next? Next step: figure out what BBS server software you want to run. Luckily, there are many options to choose from. Unfortunately... most are abandoned and not exactly super compatible with newer systems. I am going to talk about two of my personal favorite options that should cover most people's needs: Synchronet and Virtual Advanced. Both systems can handle many, many concurrent online users ("nodes"). Both support message forums, file downloads, games and chat. So let's look at where they differ. Synchronet is open source, still updated (though not necessarily all that often) and runs on Windows, Linux and FreeBSD. Virtual Advanced is closed source (though freely available), no longer in development and runs under DOS. (Yes. I did say this was one of my favorites. I'll explain a little further down.) Despite these, relatively massive, differences both systems are entirely capable of running an excellent BBS. More on getting these two setup in just a bit. (There are many other, very capable, BBS servers out there. Including EleBBS, WWIV, Wildcat! and Mystic. I am choosing to cover only Synchronet and Virtual Advanced here to keep things simple.) BBS Door Games A BBS "Door" is basically a piece of external software (usually a game). How it works is this: 1) A person calls your BBS, then chooses to run a "door game" from a menu that you have set up. 2) The BBS server software then generates what is called a "drop file" (often called "door.sys" or "chain.txt"). This is simply a text file that contains pieces of information that will tell the door software how to continue communicating with the person (connection info, user name, etc.). 3) The BBS server then launches the door software and instructs it where to look for that drop file. 4) When the user is done playing the game, the door software exits and returns control back to the BBS server. Now that you know the basics of how they work, you'll need to decide which (if any) you want on your system. This can be a rather huge task. Not only do you need to find out which games you like (and that your callers may like)... but you need to find a way to actually BUY these games (which are, often, long since abandoned). Luckily there are some games that are still supported (and usually very inexpensive), and various resources to get you started: John Dailey Software - John supports and sells some truly excellent games, including Barren Realms Elite (a personal favorite strategy game of mine). BBSFiles.com - This is a great collection of downloads of door games (as well as add-ons). What makes this site truly excellent is that it also provides many, many public (and legal) registration keys for long abandoned games. TradeWars - This is one of the most popular games out there (and for good reason). But purchasing a new license for the old (and unsupported) DOS door game version can be tricky. The new TradeWars server is developed and sold by EIS. If you really want a good, legal copy... your best bet is to contact them directly. Gameport - Want Legend of the Red Dragon? Hint: Your callers probably do. Gameport owns the rights and can sell you a registration for 15 bucks. They also have a few other BBS door games available for purchase for the same price. For each game you'll want to read through the supplied documentation for how to set it up with your BBS. Most likely you'll be making your BBS available via Telnet... which means you'll be ignoring any settings for "Com Ports" and the like for each game and instead relying on something called a "Fossil Driver". Choosing your OS and Hardware Hardware - The hardware requirements for running a BBS are... very small. Have an old PC lying around that can technically run semi-modern OS? Should be fine. Operating System - Choosing the OS you run your BBS server on is entirely personal. Linux or Windows (XP or newer) would be my recommendations. Here's what I'm running: Arch Linux running on an old Eee PC netbok (with a roughly 600mhz processor). Small. Cheap. Quiet. Low power. Linux Notes - I like Linux. But setting up DOS based Door games can be a bit more challenging under Linux (for obvious reasons). If you elect to use Synchronet (which is my recommended approach under Linux) here is a great tutorial on setting up door games for Synchronet under Linux using DOSEMU. It is also possible to use DOSBox to run your DOS door games, but this can be very problematic as DOSBox caches the file system... making it difficult to run games that have multiple, simultaneous online users (but not impossible... just very, very hard). For that reason I highly recommend the Synchronet/DOSEMU route. Network Connection - A great speed for using a BBS is roughly equivalent to an old 14.4 or 28.8 analog modem. This allows text to appear on the screen rapidly without making people wait. (Man. The days of 300 baud modems... life was tough!) Luckily, if you have any decently modern network connection you should be all set. If you want to be able to have 10 concurrent connections, you'll be looking at a maximum usage of about 280 kbit/sec. (And even that is unlikely unless people are downloading files). For a good example: My BBS (The House of Lunduke) has 20 lines. Even when all 20 lines are full of people playing games I don't even notice the network traffic on my FiOS line. What *is* important to consider is latency. While a satellite internet connection may have enough bandwidth to handle a BBS... the ping time is going to make your BBS almost unusable as you will end up waiting for an eternity every time you hit a key. The other big consideration here is how people will connect to your BBS. Will you have your own domain name? A static IP address (recommended)? If you do not have a static IP address (and your ISP refuses to give you one) you can sign up for a Dynamic DNS service. Getting Up And Running Ok. So you've chosen your hardware, OS and BBS software and you're ready to go. What now? Synchronet - So you chose Synchronet, eh? If you are running Windows go grab the installer from the Download page then follow these instructions. It's truly pretty straight forward. Running on Linux? You're going to need to build Synchronet from source and do some tweaking. Luckily there are excellent instructions available. Which I recommend following to the letter. Virtual Advanced - Running on Windows: 1) Go grab the Virtual Advanced Windows installer. 2) Then you'll need the VADV32 installer, which is supplied by Aspect Technologies. Remember when I said Virtual Advanced is no longer being developed? Luckily Aspect Technologies stepped up to the plate and built a great tool called VADV32 which acts as a telnet server and configuration front end for Virtual Advanced. Follow the instructions provided with VADV32. Running on Linux: Don't do it. VADV32 is necessary to have a good experience running Virtual Advanced as a telnet accessible BBS. And it is a Windows application. That said: I am running Virtual Advanced and VADV32 under Arch Linux using Wine (and other tools). It was a royal pain to get working properly. But I'm a stubborn Linux user who used to run Virtual Advanced on OS/2 "back in the day"... I chose that route for nostalgic reasons. So it's possible. If you really hate yourself and want to do this like I did, ask in the comments for this article and I will do my best to help with any issues you have. Additional Considerations Does your BBS need a website? If so, will you allow people to connect to your BBS via your website (via something such as FlashTerm or jsTerm). Will you promote your BBS on the various BBS list website out there (such as BBSFinder)? How much time/access will you give your users? How will you handle new users? Will you join a message network (such as FidoNet)? Lots and lots to consider. Far too many to list and answer. But if you have questions, just ask here and I (or others) may be able to point you in the right direction. My Thoughts on BBSing I feel that BBSing is genuinely important. Both as a leisure activity (a rather nerdy one), a communication mechanism and a way of preserving our past (and making that past accessible to everyone to see, experience and study). I would love to see more BBS's. If this interests you, dive in and have fun. What's the worst that can happen? Filed under: BBS | 9 Comments --- Romy Ilano Founder of Snowyla http://www.snowyla.com romy(a)snowyla.com

11 years, 8 months

FAVORITE GENERAL MEETING

by Vicky Knox

EEEEEEEEEEEEE VVVVVVVVVVVVV EEEEEEEEEEEEE RRRRRRRRRRRR !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was funny. It was dramatic. It was caffeinated <https://sudoroom.org/wiki/page/Sudomate>. It was cofacilitated. It was everything I want in a meeting and in humanity. Oh and it was delicious!

11 years, 8 months

Fascinating Friday Films: 3D-printing showcase!

by Vicky Knox

So today I was watching a video of a 3D-printed autonomous moving object made by Theo Jansen <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQICYjDdURg> < http://www.shapeways.com/blog/archives/822-theo-jansens-3d-printed-strandbe…> and thought it would be amazing to showcase a series of videos for FFF on 3D-modeling/printing! I also have a number of cool images I've taken at hackerspaces that I could throw into the mix. QUESTION: Does anyone have any resources/leads they'd like to contribute? Please reply OR add to the FFF wiki page here: < https://sudoroom.org/wiki/page/Fabulous_Friday_Films#3D_Printing_Film_Showc… > PS: Check out our film line-up! Add to the list!

11 years, 8 months

Sudo Meeting Minutes

by Matthew Senate

Available here: https://sudoroom.org/wiki/page/Meeting_Notes_2013-04-17 Action items copied below: Follow-up - Work with Tommy to improve Fiscal Solvency Sheets and our fiscal process during meetings - Marina and Romy - Membership survey - matt will ask rusty - Set up date for label-printing organizing of stuff event - Jenny!1 -troy - write a script for soliciting donations that can easily be read to people using the space for meetups, workshops etc; max tommy - Laptop - from Yardena, Max and Matt will install Linux on it - Talk to Danny O'Brien, intro from JC to Jordan, invite him to come to a future sudo meeting to share insight! - Jordan asks you to be mindful of cookery and possible fire hazards, also to try to cook and bring more food here always. - Follow up with Rusty on the survey (Andrew and/or Bill) [edit<https://sudoroom.org/mediawiki/index.php?title=Meeting_Notes_2013-04-17&act…> ]New Items - Add NoBAWC event to calendar - Add Hacky Happer Hour to the calendar - Jenny sync with Troy on library - Vicky looking into syncing with Open Library - Romy to lead diagram for Articles of Association amendment - Facilitator at next meeting - icebreaker with light "idea" activity for working with articles better - I think this will be an ice-creator. - Add articles to github (gitorious!!!!!!!?) - Bill - follow up with public school about a shared scheduling system for the common space. - Vicky & Marina - follow up with Public School about Oakland Nights Live. - Eddan - Follow up with George about event and guest concerns :) - Ask for access to hose, cleanup materials, to cleanup after bigger events, etc - Jenny - Set expectations for sudo events, make this available to internal & external - Eddan - Reference letter from George - Bill & Andrew will work on the technical solution for privacy / alteration of the mailing list archives. - Query the list re: what information they are comfortable with being a) member-visible, b) publicly visible, c) search index'd (eg; Google) or not, and any desired Search & Replace

11 years, 8 months

why I quit the meeting (twice)

by Naomi Most

So. I am totally with the idea of distributing the know-how of facilitation. But the proposed plan of there being a meta-facilitator guiding the facilitators of each section didn't come to pass, and the meeting was drawn out by dint there not being expected limits on discussion topics. Good moderators in general set expectations for a discussion by declaring how many minutes should be spent on it, and by qualifying what counts as "in scope" for the meeting and what should be moved to another time. Tonight there were lots of topics on the meeting agenda, but that wasn't what drew it out to 10:15pm. What drew it out was the combination of: * lack of time limits on discussions * lack of sense of scope on discussions * unwillingness to create "pointers" to extra-meeting discussions, email, etc. You have to do these things, and you can't guilt people into attendance when they tune out and attend to other things because they have no sense of the progression of things. And I'm going to restate a previous point I've made about bureaucracy. There's this tendency to privilege the discussion of rules/regulations/policies above everything else when it comes to general meetings. When I say "privilege" I mean "give more time and leeway to". You have to resist this urge. Discussion of policy isn't fundamentally any more important than discussion of culture, or events, or fiscal solvency, etc. It's all *equally important*... by which I mean like Five Minutes important. Because if you multiply out all the subpoints in each section of any given agenda by 5 minutes, you easily get an hour or more. --Naomi -- Naomi Theora Most naomi(a)nthmost.com +1-415-728-7490 skype: nthmost http://twitter.com/nthmost

11 years, 8 months

MAPS Conference Food Volunteer Prayers Answered 2Day - Thank You

by Raymond Lai

Thank you, Jenny and Sonja for driving to stores and picking up supplies with me! This is all going to be rolled up into a TIL entitled "How to feed 50 people for a 4 day conference - Logistics and Lunacy" ;) And thanks to Julio for offering to help, even though I didn't get to your email. there's 2moro. :) Here's some pix of how much food we got for the 4 breakfasts, lunches, snax and 1 dinner. Yes that is 30lbs. of sushi rice! Now it's time to cook the night away in the night kitchen while listening to Patti Smith! cheers, ray

11 years, 8 months

$600 for makerbot 3 gen with slide

by Louis Huang

Hey guys, My roommate is selling his old makerbot (millbot ?) 3rd gen 3d printer w/ slide for $600 or best offer. Email me for more inquiries. Sent from my iPhone Louis T. Huang http://aegia.nu/ +202.445.7258 louis.huang(a)aegia.nu

11 years, 8 months

chez hacker house / dharma initiative weekend - romy can drive 4-5 people in my car friday night

by Romy Ilano

http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/DHARMA_Initiative ok i'm signing up for chez hacker house /dharma initiative weekend romy can drive 4-5 people in the car friday night or saturday morning? info(a)romyilano.com

11 years, 8 months

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