Agency BBS (bbs.geek.nz)

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paul151

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#145449 18-May-2014 15:33

I'm really not sure where else to post this so hopefully I chose the right forum :-)

For those of you old enough to remember (and those young enough to wonder about such things) I have resurrected my old school bulletin board system (BBS) after feeling nostalgic about such things as of late.

Head to bbs.geek.nz for more info on my project or grab a telnet client that plays nice with ANSI graphics and point it at agency.bbs.geek.nz (port 23)

I've just re-established a Fidonet address and can provide echomail and netmail feeds to downlinks if you ever end up deciding to set up a BBS for yourself in the future.

Feel free to ask any questions.

There are a few BBS still around and I am having a lot of fun reconnecting with a scene that I have not been active in since 1996.

Quic "Sprinter" UFB - Ref (free setup): R338237EFDIUJ

Agency BBS | fsxNet | Agency News | Total FM

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#1047476 18-May-2014 15:48

Awsome , I used to run a wildcat based bbs back in the day , Had one line coming into the house. Can't remember what I paid back then for the software but was quite a bit for the time. I tried searchlight for a while but deiced wildcat was a lot better. Had quite a few doors installed as well from memory.
Used to run it on my 286 , I upgraded the hd to a 40 meg one for $600 to run the bbs.

Yeah a few memorys there.

Ding Ding Ding Ding Ding : Ice cream man , Ice cream man

paul151

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#1047489 18-May-2014 16:08

Presso: Awsome , I used to run a wildcat based bbs back in the day , Had one line coming into the house. Can't remember what I paid back then for the software but was quite a bit for the time. I tried searchlight for a while but deiced wildcat was a lot better. Had quite a few doors installed as well from memory.
Used to run it on my 286 , I upgraded the hd to a 40 meg one for $600 to run the bbs.

Yeah a few memorys there.

Yes it's a lot of fun :-)

I was a Renegade boy myself... now using Mystic BBS which is very cool and still being actively developed.

I have yet to set up the Door games and File areas, instead have opted on getting Fidonet and Agoranet networks up and running.

I suggest you try SyncTERM or just use the web based client HtmlTerm that I have added on the website.

Only issue with that latter is it's a bit slower than using a straight Telnet connection.

At present it uses a proxy server but I hope to remove this shortly from the mix.

Quic "Sprinter" UFB - Ref (free setup): R338237EFDIUJ

Agency BBS | fsxNet | Agency News | Total FM

freitasm

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#1047522 18-May-2014 17:33

I used to run a BBS back in 94 - 96. Had three 33Kbps US Robotics modems, a Pentium 100MHz box with 64MBytes RAM and 850MBytes HDD running Windows 3.11 and PowerBBS. Lots of fun back then...

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paul151

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#1047532 18-May-2014 17:49

freitasm: I used to run a BBS back in 94 - 96. Had three 33Kbps US Robotics modems, a Pentium 100MHz box with 64MBytes RAM and 850MBytes HDD running Windows 3.11 and PowerBBS. Lots of fun back then...

I see you were trying to login / sign up and the connection dropped - did you have difficulty?

What terminal / software were you using to connect or was it via the website terminal?

paul151

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#1050028 20-May-2014 19:25

paul151:

Head to bbs.geek.nz for more info on my project or grab a telnet client that plays nice with ANSI graphics and point it at agency.bbs.geek.nz (port 23)

Further update - I have enabled a web based telnet client so you can connect and use the BBS via http://bbs.geek.nz/term.html

It's the easiest way to login and have a play so I figured it was worth setting up.

I'd be interested to see how you find it and if the connection speeds are reasonable.

Quic "Sprinter" UFB - Ref (free setup): R338237EFDIUJ

Agency BBS | fsxNet | Agency News | Total FM

Virgil

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#1050031 20-May-2014 19:31

Just tried to log on, and the connection dropped at the "New Message to Sysop" point

Lurking ...

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paul151

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#1050040 20-May-2014 19:42

Virgil: Just tried to log on, and the connection dropped at the "New Message to Sysop" point

Hmm... saw that and unsure why, I have changed the proxy server I am using so could you try again?

It may be slower but hopefully more reliable...

Did it report any error messages?

Joys of BBS debugging :-)

Quic "Sprinter" UFB - Ref (free setup): R338237EFDIUJ

Agency BBS | fsxNet | Agency News | Total FM

Virgil

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#1050044 20-May-2014 19:45

No message, just "Deep breath, press any key " ... then pressed, and "disconnected form agency.bbs.etc

Will try again now

Lurking ...

Lurch

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#1050048 20-May-2014 19:49

Good to see another BBS online, mines been up and down since the 90's. Don't get many callers these days, just leave it running for nostalgia sake :-)

Started with Renegade, then Iniquity BBS, then Mystic for awhile and now Synchronet. How quickly time passes. :-/

Regs

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#1050082 20-May-2014 20:58

you should join the facebook group "Ye Olde NZ BBS". There are a bunch of ex-BBSers in there https://www.facebook.com/groups/65117148912/

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paul151

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#1050085 20-May-2014 21:00

Virgil: No message, just "Deep breath, press any key " ... then pressed, and "disconnected form agency.bbs.etc

Will try again now

Despite our testing I'm still trying to debug this, sorry for the hassles..

I can see it says disconnected at the web interface but showing a connect at the BBS... will keep prodding / testing and post when I have an update.

If you do run with something like syncTERM and point to agency.bbs.geek.nz port 23 ... it will work nicely.. as I've had a number of connects that way.

Quic "Sprinter" UFB - Ref (free setup): R338237EFDIUJ

Agency BBS | fsxNet | Agency News | Total FM

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paul151

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#1050089 20-May-2014 21:05

Regs: you should join the facebook group "Ye Olde NZ BBS". There are a bunch of ex-BBSers in there https://www.facebook.com/groups/65117148912/

Yep, but I'd better make the connection experience smooth first :-)

Quic "Sprinter" UFB - Ref (free setup): R338237EFDIUJ

Agency BBS | fsxNet | Agency News | Total FM

paul151

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#1097508 28-Jul-2014 21:55

Hi there... an update.

For those of you you who attempted to sign up I have validated you and you now have regular access.

Issues with the BBS dropping connection upon sign up have been resolved... it turned out to be a permissions thing.

Today I have added Legend of the Dragon (LORD) as a door game and hooked it up to an inter-BBS league with players from the States and Europe involved.. I'm also working on getting Barren Realms Elite installed. I could use a few keen users to test the DOOR games out and help get the BBS further up the league rankings :-)

The Agency BBS is now carrying a selection of Usenet newsgroups including:

ALT.FOLKLORE.COMPUTERS
ALT.HAM-RADIO
AUS.COMPUTERS
COMP.SYS.ACORN.*
COMP.SYS.AMIGA
COMP.SYS.AMSTRAD.*
COMP.SYS.APPLE2
COMP.SYS.ATARI.*
COMP.SYS.CBM
COMP.SYS.RASPBERRY-PI
COMP.SYS.TANDY
REC.ANTIQUES.RADIO+PHO
REC.RADIO.AMATEUR.*
SCI.ASTRO
SCI.ELECTRONICS.*
SCI.SPACE.*
UK.COMP.HOMEBUILT
UK.COMP.VINTAGE

I added them as I miss Usenet... and I know a lot of Usenet is full of spam but these newsgroups seem OK. If there's groups your want to see here register with the BBS and let me know.

Phew, that's enough for now.

Cheers, Paul

Quic "Sprinter" UFB - Ref (free setup): R338237EFDIUJ

Agency BBS | fsxNet | Agency News | Total FM