Greetings all! 42 year old former SysOp here trying to relive the better days of computing. How active is FidoNet these days?

-Bo

--- Renegade v1.30/DOS
* Origin: AlcoholidayBBS.com / Est. 1995 / Columbia, SC (1:123/525.1)

Hello Bo Holt!

** On Friday 01.12.23 - 21:22, Bo Holt wrote to All:

Greetings all! 42 year old former SysOp here trying to relive the better days of computing. How active is FidoNet these days?

It depends on who you ask, I suppose.

Unlike othernet FTN's, Fidonet-verse is made up of federated
systems that can pick and choose which echomail groups they
wish to carry. So, depending on what system you are a user of,
the activity in its echo portfolio could vary - thus, giving
different impressions just how "active" things are.

Were you "The_Mechanic's_Workbench" circa 1994?

Welcome back as a point/user!

I likewise, I operated a couple of systems in the 90's and into
the early years of the 2000's - and then quit primarily of a
hdd failure on my system.

My systems were:

Vis_a_Vis_Communications
Etcetera_Etcetera_Etc..
eXpress_><_ConneXions

I am quite happy operating as a point/user to participate in
echomail. I've settled with OpenXP ( more info and pics here - https://openxp.kolico.ca )

I also connect with Aftershock via an android phone, and even
Telegram. Aftershock limits access to one boss node, and one
device. Select echos are accessible with the Telegram app (for
desktop or any OS) via Telegram BBS that operates from Crimea.
You can learn more about the latter by linking up with the
FIDONET.TELEGRAM echo.
--
../|ug

--- OpenXP 5.0.57
* Origin: Mobile? Join CHAT here: https://tinyurl.com/y5k7tsla (1:153/757.21)

Greetings, and thanks the the reply!

Yep! That was me, The Mechanic's Workbench! I guess there's still an old BBS list floating around somewhere LOL.

Yeah, I remember how FidoNet worked and how different boards subscribed to different message areas. Bandwidth and disk space certainly wasn't what it is today, that's for sure!

I'm currently connecting on period hardware (a Tandy 1000 TL/2), well, with the exception of using a WiModem232. I recently acquired this computer and was happy to see my old IBM 5153 display is still nice and crips, for the most part! ;)

I'm going to have to check out those links you sent me soon.

Thanks,

Bo

--- Renegade v1.30/DOS
* Origin: AlcoholidayBBS.com / Est. 1995 / Columbia, SC (1:123/525.1)

Hello Bo Holt!

Yep! That was me, The Mechanic's Workbench! I guess
there's still an old BBS list floating around somewhere
LOL.

It's even easier than that. A couple of places track the
Fidonet nodelist history:

https://nodehist.fidonet.org.ua/ http://ambrosia60.dd-dns.de/fidonet/nlarchive2.php

The latter one seems to be having a connection problem at this
time. :(

I'm currently connecting on period hardware (a Tandy 1000
TL/2), well, with the exception of using a WiModem232. I
recently acquired this computer and was happy to see my
old IBM 5153 display is still nice and crips, for the most
part! ;)

Ah.. an 8088? I think my first was a 80286.

I tossed out all my CRT monitors years ago. I decided that the
wattage usage and heat generation wasn't worth it.
--
../|ug

--- OpenXP 5.0.57
* Origin: Mobile? Join CHAT here: https://tinyurl.com/y5k7tsla (1:153/757.21)

My apologies as I am having trouble quoting the previous messages: I'm
still rusty! ;)

The TL/2 is an 80286, 8MHz I believe. I still have a handful of VGA CRTs and some Macintosh CRTs. I have a pretty decent retro collection and could kick myself at the stuff I threw away over the years that we considered "junk" back then. My first PC (after the CoCo 2) was an Amstrad PC1512 (8086), and I went straight from there to an 80486, the first computer I learned how to build.

I need to look into the FidoNet business. It would be cool to see if I could reclaim my old node and setup a mailer. I still have a landline, and even though it's VoIP, I can sustain connections at 9600 reliably. I'd love to hear the computers calling each other again and exchanging mail once a day or so. I wish I still had all my old BBS backups, but I probably through them all out when I turned 16 :(

--- Renegade v1.30/DOS
* Origin: AlcoholidayBBS.com / Est. 1995 / Columbia, SC (1:123/525.1)

Hello Bo Holt!

..I have a pretty decent retro collection and could kick
myself at the stuff I threw away over the years that we
considered "junk" back then. My first PC (after the CoCo
2) was an Amstrad PC1512 (8086), and I went straight from
there to an 80486, the first computer I learned how to
build.

I still have bits and pieces of various ancient boxes, all
partially dismantled for one reason or another. Cords,
connectors, hdds, ram modules, and keyboards. I don't recall
the exact progression of pc models that I went through.

I need to look into the FidoNet business. It would be
cool to see if I could reclaim my old node and setup a
mailer.

I believe the reclaim is doable. It has been maintained that
nodenumbers nolonger in existence would not be relaimed by
other than the original sysop.

I still have a landline, and even though it's
VoIP, I can sustain connections at 9600 reliably. I'd love
to hear the computers calling each other again and
exchanging mail once a day or so.

Yeah.. but the results would be s-l-o-w. It might get old
fast! <g>

Also, I heard that analog over VoIP can be finicky wrt to some
other characteristic, not just the bps rate. I tried utilizing
a Netgear (with a SIM to connect cellular, and supports
physical phones to its RJ11 conectors) but my POS (point of
sale) device did not cooperate as a backup connection over
dialup.

I wish I still had all my old BBS backups, but I probably
through them all out when I turned 16 :(

That's pretty young to already have started throwing stuff out.
I was probably 15 yrs into my pc/parts accumulation before I
started tossing anything out. The first things I tossed out
were the CRT monitors since they seemed to occupy the most
space.

I handed off several routers and over 8 different modems to a
friend who said that they are too good to just throw away. I'm
convinced he's just a hoarder, but at least they have another
"good" home to sit in and the possibility to be utilized - or
not - but at least they are out of my space because I know
absolutely sure that I would never revisit them.

--
../|ug

--- OpenXP 5.0.57
* Origin: Mobile? Join CHAT here: https://tinyurl.com/y5k7tsla (1:153/757.21)

Re: Analog Data over VoIP
I found that to make it work well on Vonage, I had to use one of the older phone gateways. On my Tandy, I'm currently only connecting at 9600bps even with the WiModem232 as the serial port doesn't have a 16550 UART. I need to get a "new" AT-IO card with a 16550 on it because I need a COM port for a serial mouse anyway ;)

-Bo

--- Renegade v1.30/DOS
* Origin: AlcoholidayBBS.com / Est. 1995 / Columbia, SC (1:123/525.1)

Hello Bo,

01 Dec 23 21:22, you wrote to All:

Greetings all! 42 year old former SysOp here trying to relive the
better days of computing. How active is FidoNet these days?

welcome!
Fidonet is the same as you will see ;)

Regards,
--
dp

telnet://bbs.roonsbbs.hu:1212 <<=-

... Uptime: 5d 5h 25m 12s
--- GoldED/2 1.1.4.7+EMX
* Origin: Roon's BBS - Budapest, HUNGARY (2:371/52)

Hi!
On 06.12.2023 21:55:08, Daniel Path wrote:

How active is FidoNet these days?

welcome!
Fidonet is the same as you will see ;)

It only got 100x smaller.


--
Three things are certain:
Death, taxes, and lost data.
Guess which has occurred.

---
* Origin: nntp://news.fidonet.fi (2:221/6.0)

Hi!
On 06.12.2023 21:55:08, Daniel Path wrote:

Uptime: 5d 5h 25m 12s
-+- GoldED/2 1.1.4.7+EMX

By the way are you using the OG OS/2 Warp or some off-shoots like eCS
or Arca?

--
Windows NT crashed.
I am the Blue Screen of Death.
No one hears your screams.

---
* Origin: nntp://news.fidonet.fi (2:221/6.0)

welcome!
Fidonet is the same as you will see ;)

That makes me happy! Computing was more fun "back in the day". ;)

Regards,
--
dp

telnet://bbs.roonsbbs.hu:1212 <<=-

... Uptime: 5d 5h 25m 12s

--- Renegade v1.30/DOS
* Origin: AlcoholidayBBS.com / Est. 1995 / Columbia, SC (1:123/525.1)

How active is FidoNet these days?

welcome!
Fidonet is the same as you will see ;)

It only got 100x smaller.

Ha! Well, at least the people involved are real "computer people" and not smart phone zombies or people who just chose I.T. as a career but have no passion. Perhaps we could introduce the next generation of REAL

computer people to BBSing!

--- Renegade v1.30/DOS
* Origin: AlcoholidayBBS.com / Est. 1995 / Columbia, SC (1:123/525.1)

Hello Bo Holt!

** On Thursday 07.12.23 - 09:04, Bo Holt wrote to Gleb Hlebov:

..Perhaps we could introduce the next generation of REAL
computer people to BBSing!

So far, this hobby has merely attracted REAL OLD computer
people! <G>

I doubt that young people would be interested much. Perhaps
the misconception is that BBSing as a user requires old/vintage
gear? Nevertheless, I hear the occassional newbie discover that
BBSing is still very much alive.

Myself, I'm more interested in the messaging/echomail aspect of
the fidoverse.
--
../|ug

--- OpenXP 5.0.57
* Origin: Mobile? Join CHAT here: https://tinyurl.com/y5k7tsla (1:153/757.21)

Hello Gleb,

07 Dec 23 12:46, you wrote to me:

Hi!
On 06.12.2023 21:55:08, Daniel Path wrote:

Uptime: 5d 5h 25m 12s
-+- GoldED/2 1.1.4.7+EMX

By the way are you using the OG OS/2 Warp or some off-shoots like eCS
or Arca?

original os2 warp 4.52 on a p166mmx@188mhz :)

Regards,
--
dp

telnet://bbs.roonsbbs.hu:1212 <<=-

... Uptime: 8d 7h 6m 17s
--- GoldED/2 1.1.4.7+EMX
* Origin: Roon's BBS - Budapest, HUNGARY (2:371/52)

Thursday December 07 2023 12:46, Gleb Hlebov wrote to Daniel Path:

Uptime: 5d 5h 25m 12s
-+- GoldED/2 1.1.4.7+EMX

By the way are you using the OG OS/2 Warp or some off-shoots like eCS
or Arca?

This bbs system has been running under OS/2 over 30 years, continuously.

Just checked, this installation of OS/2 Warp v4.52 was installed 25.03.2004. There will be 20 years party pretty soon. :)

'Tommi

--- GEcho/2 1.20/Pro
* Origin: * RBB * Lake Ylo * Finland * (2:221/360)

Hello Tommi,

10 Dec 23 22:42, you wrote to Gleb Hlebov:

Uptime: 5d 5h 25m 12s
-+- GoldED/2 1.1.4.7+EMX

By the way are you using the OG OS/2 Warp or some off-shoots like
eCS or Arca?

This bbs system has been running under OS/2 over 30 years,
continuously.

Just checked, this installation of OS/2 Warp v4.52 was installed 25.03.2004. There will be 20 years party pretty soon. :)

holy sheet... legend!

Regards,
--
dp

telnet://bbs.roonsbbs.hu:1212 <<=-

... Uptime: 10d 5h 59m 28s
--- GoldED/2 1.1.4.7+EMX
* Origin: Roon's BBS - Budapest, HUNGARY (2:371/52)

Hi!

On 10.12.2023 22:42:52, Tommi Koivula wrote:

This bbs system has been running under OS/2 over 30 years,
continuously.

But, I guess power outages must've happened sometimes?

Just checked, this installation of OS/2 Warp v4.52 was installed
25.03.2004. There will be 20 years party pretty soon. :)

That's a lot of devotion. :-)
I'm not sure it you could run multi-tasking OS/2 sessions without PM
and under CLI with REXX? If this is the case, it should be as good as
a *nix server automated with shell scripting.


--
The Web site you seek
cannot be located but
Countless more exist

---
* Origin: nntp://news.fidonet.fi (2:221/6.0)

Hi!

On 09.12.2023 23:16:56, Daniel Path wrote:

By the way are you using the OG OS/2 Warp or some off-shoots
like eCS or Arca?

original os2 warp 4.52 on a p166mmx@188mhz :)

Well, my last was Warp 3 on a DX4/100, 8Mb RAM, before I had to hop
over onto Win95/OSR. A lot of fond memories. :-)


--
No keyboard present
Hit F1 to continue
Zen engineering?

---
* Origin: nntp://news.fidonet.fi (2:221/6.0)

Hello Gleb,

12 Dec 23 13:22, you wrote to me:

By the way are you using the OG OS/2 Warp or some off-shoots
like eCS or Arca?

original os2 warp 4.52 on a p166mmx@188mhz :)

Well, my last was Warp 3 on a DX4/100, 8Mb RAM, before I had to hop
over onto Win95/OSR. A lot of fond memories. :-)

yep my original bbs run on a cyrix dx2-80, unsure about the ram, with warp3. after i've switched to linux.

Regards,
--
dp

telnet://bbs.roonsbbs.hu:1212 <<=-

... Uptime: 10d 22h 39m 41s
--- GoldED/2 1.1.4.7+EMX
* Origin: Roon's BBS - Budapest, HUNGARY (2:371/52)

Gleb Hlebov wrote to Daniel Path <=-

Well, my last was Warp 3 on a DX4/100, 8Mb RAM, before I had to hop
over onto Win95/OSR. A lot of fond memories. :-)

Warp 4, 486 DX/50. I was a Novell admin at the time, and all of the
utilities were DOS Curses-based tools. I could run 4 of 5 of them Simultaneously in OS/2, no problem.

We had a dial-in tool that allowed serial port sharing via int14h.
Procomm Plus supported that, so I used that to dial into my PBXes to
manage them without a local modem.

And, of course, once, I connected to all 4 modem lines and called 4 BBSes simultaneously, because I could. :)



... THE SEVEN JOURNEYS TO ITSELFNESS
--- MultiMail/Win v0.52
* Origin: http://realitycheckbbs.org | tomorrow's retro tech (1:218/700)

On 12.12.2023 13:15, Gleb Hlebov wrote:

On 10.12.2023 22:42:52, Tommi Koivula wrote:

This bbs system has been running under OS/2 over 30 years,
continuously.

But, I guess power outages must've happened sometimes?

Of course. However, never long ones even if this systen is running at my
home in the countryside in Finland. I have also had UPS devices from the beginning, and that was year 1996 when I moved here. ;)

Just checked, this installation of OS/2 Warp v4.52 was installed
25.03.2004. There will be 20 years party pretty soon. :)

That's a lot of devotion. :-)

Considering that I'm usually pretty much away from home. ;)

I'm not sure it you could run multi-tasking OS/2 sessions without PM
and under CLI with REXX? If this is the case, it should be as good as
a *nix server automated with shell scripting.

I could run all without PM, in TShell for example. In fact all the BBS
related software are running in textmode...

'Tommi

--- FastEcho/2 1.46.1 Revival
* Origin: nntp://rbb.fidonet.fi - Lake Ylo - Finland (2:221/1.0)

On 12.12.2023 13:22, Gleb Hlebov wrote:

By the way are you using the OG OS/2 Warp or some off-shoots
like eCS or Arca?

original os2 warp 4.52 on a p166mmx@188mhz :)

Well, my last was Warp 3 on a DX4/100, 8Mb RAM,

My first OS/2 installation was 2.xx something.. Installed from floppies
to a 486sx. :D

'Tommi

--- FastEcho/2 1.46.1 Revival
* Origin: nntp://rbb.fidonet.fi - Lake Ylo - Finland (2:221/1.0)

Hello Tommi,

12 Dec 23 17:23, you wrote to Gleb Hlebov:

On 12.12.2023 13:15, Gleb Hlebov wrote:

On 10.12.2023 22:42:52, Tommi Koivula wrote:

This bbs system has been running under OS/2 over 30 years,
continuously.

But, I guess power outages must've happened sometimes?

Of course. However, never long ones even if this systen is running at
my home in the countryside in Finland. I have also had UPS devices
from the beginning, and that was year 1996 when I moved here. ;)

Just checked, this installation of OS/2 Warp v4.52 was installed
25.03.2004. There will be 20 years party pretty soon. :)

That's a lot of devotion. :-)

Considering that I'm usually pretty much away from home. ;)

I'm not sure it you could run multi-tasking OS/2 sessions without PM
and under CLI with REXX? If this is the case, it should be as good
as a *nix server automated with shell scripting.

I could run all without PM, in TShell for example. In fact all the BBS related software are running in textmode...

apropos Tommi, do you use something to reach PM from a remote machine? like vnc?

Regards,
--
dp

telnet://bbs.roonsbbs.hu:1212 <<=-

... Uptime: 11d 5h 37m 17s
--- GoldED/2 1.1.4.7+EMX
* Origin: Roon's BBS - Budapest, HUNGARY (2:371/52)

12 Dec 23 21:33, Daniel Path wrote to Tommi Koivula:

I could run all without PM, in TShell for example. In fact all
the BBS related software are running in textmode...

apropos Tommi, do you use something to reach PM from a remote machine? like vnc?

Vnc, sure, without encryption. No worries about security there, the connection to home lan is via wireguard or ssh tunnel. :)

'Tommi

--- FastEcho/2 1.46.1 Revival
* Origin: =========================>>>> (2:221/1)

Hi!

On 12.12.2023 16:31:00, Kurt Weiske wrote:

Warp 4, 486 DX/50. I was a Novell admin at the time, and all of the
utilities were DOS Curses-based tools. I could run 4 of 5 of them Simultaneously in OS/2, no problem.
We had a dial-in tool that allowed serial port sharing via int14h.
Procomm Plus supported that, so I used that to dial into my PBXes to
manage them without a local modem.
And, of course, once, I connected to all 4 modem lines and called 4
BBSes simultaneously, because I could. :)

Too much advanced tech here :-)
I can only recall that my fidonet boss had a BBS under OS/2 W.3 at the
time, it was multi-line too and would operate "unmanned" for months.


--
Chaos reigns within.
Reflect, repent, and reboot.
Order shall return.

---
* Origin: nntp://news.fidonet.fi (2:221/6.0)

I doubt that young people would be interested much. Perhaps
the misconception is that BBSing as a user requires old/vintage
gear? Nevertheless, I hear the occassional newbie discover that
BBSing is still very much alive.

Myself, I'm more interested in the messaging/echomail aspect of
the fidoverse.

Well, we can always hope! ;)

Bo

--- Renegade v1.30/DOS
* Origin: AlcoholidayBBS.com / Est. 1995 / Columbia, SC (1:123/525.1)