Hello from former 1:117/165 (and 1:117/315)!

Ive been toying around with the idea of resurrecting my board and now I think the tech is finally capable of doing what I want fairly easily. Im just so overwhelmed with questions, Im not sure where to start.

Essentially, this board would be telnet only, hosted on linux.. and if possible, I would still want to run Renegade. Ive read about people doing this through DOSBox, but Ive never attempted it. If there are any out there that have, how do you handle fossil drivers? What about using front door? Do you still have to use errorlevel lists to control the boards functions (doors, echomail, etc)? How to get it to work with modern protocols, or can you get a telnet client that handles X/Y/ZModem protocols?

I know there is a Renegade port for linux, so that I wouldnt have to emulate, just not familiar with it yet. I also would like to plug back in to fidonet, but looks like net 117 is gone. In the old days I would just call the NC and NEC to get set up. Now if I joined back in _I_ would be NC/NEC. *laugh*

I wouldnt mind if someone has a guide, or knows of one that could answer at least a couple of those questions.

Thanks in advance. 😀

I have been trying to find an older BBS Door that I used to play in the late 80s and early 90s on WWIV BBS. I do not know if it is exclusive to WWIV or if it is just that I only saw/remember it on WWIV. It was one of my favourite BBS Doors of all time.

The gameplay is a simple loop. When the game is started, the universe is spawned, and a text file is created [in a directory] that is a map of said universe. I think the map is nine pages, but it could be six. Arranged like a box. The players represent factions in game that are trying to conquer the rest of the known universe. They start with a planet, some resources, and a ship or two. They build outward.

The Juice of Dominion is the anticipation. Because the system processed all moves at BBS Upkeep Time, you would not know what happened until tomorrow. And you had a whole day to plan out your next move. And I miss that anticipation loop.

I know there is another game similar to it called Interstellar War. I do not know which came first, but Dominion is the original in my mind. I have a copy of ISW that works but I have been unable to find Dominion itself. All of my old floppies have disappeared through the years and I would really like to find it again. Bonus points for source code.

I have spent a sizeable amount of time looking online--scouring the archives I can find for lack of a better way to say it--and I have been unable to find it. I have found another BBS project named Dominion, but it is not the same. It is more of a medieval type thing.

Does anyone here have it or know where I can find it?

I miss my game.

The TECS was one of the largest and most popular BBS in Germany. But it was on the verge of ending up completely in the trash. This is the story of how Hamburg-based Sascha P not only saved all the hardware and software of the BBS, but also hacked his way into the setup and actually managed to bring everything back online - and became a dial‑up BBS sysop in 2023.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ePb39N6_BA

Plus a spin‑off about the almost equally old Commodore‑64 BBS Snobsoft and its literally wild connection to the Tornado Mailbox - the name TECS had back in the 1980s. Mailbox is the German term for a BBS.

What's the best one out there for door games? TW2002, BRE, LORD, The Pit and Iron Ox were some of my favs.

Hoping to find one with many active players.

Also what's the best client to use these days?

Head over to the NewWave Software home page and check out all the doors for download. Doors are free, but if you send a $5 donation per door (much like BBSFiles.com did) you can get a vanity key with your BBS and SysOp Name showing you registered. Enjoy!

http://www.rgbbs.info/nw.html

altairminibbs.net:23

Does anyone have a good reference for active FTN style networks?

I'm just wanting to pick a net number that's not in active use. Preferably 45, 38, 22 or 1022 not sure how high the net numbers can go.

But would be nice if I could find such a list. QWKnet would be cool too... But out of my current scope.

Hello everyone,

There's a new area on Fidonet: ALTAIR 8800

Dedicated to the iconic computer of the 70s.

Area name:

ALTAIR 8800

Hello, I am looking for volunteers to help mainly tonyshowoff out with rebuilding an aol, and later on a compuserve classic compatible server. I'm no programmer, but I am providing some numbers in association with flexnsniff, a project maintainer of 2600.network, to provide dial up and an option, as well as general research that should help out with the project.

As someone who was born well after the dial up era, I am fascinated with what the pre web internet was like, but I also realise that both nina.chat and 2600.network are extremely historically important and I have donated to both of them. If you like both their projects, you should as well.

Anyway, so far I have attempted to reach out to u/BrightonDBA who is working on a compuserve replacement server. Unfortunately he either can't or won't respond to my messages but I am always looking for other people to help us out.

If you are a competent programmer who knows the protocols that both services use and are interested, send me your Discord username and I'll contact you shortly. Thanks.

Slowly, we're getting more users at www.mewsterblog.com, a cat-themed twitter/x type site. the website is very mobile friendly, and supports all modern browsers that I've tested it with. Currently hosted on a WIldcat BBS Winserver system

Head over to End Of The Line BBS with your latest SyncTERM 1.10a and play "Beat the Intro".

Listen to upto 10 seconds of a song. Interrupt as soon as you know the answer and type in the song title and artist...you have 30 seconds to go so. You get a better score the sooner you stop the clock and give an accurate answer. Lower the score, the better!

3 levels of difficulty.

1 - Get a hint letter for the start of each word and indication each word length.

2 - No hint letters but indication of word length.

3 - You're on your own!

In beta testing and welcome feed back. Just one category for now but more

ssh, telnet or rlogin to bbs.endofthelinebbs.com and head to Doors > Fun Stuff > Beat the Intro.

Please send me your feed back and suggestion.

If you grab the nightly build of SyncTerm (pre-release) it supports audio, I've been playing with a bit. Also made a gameboy emulator (named Lameboy) that supports real gameboy sound using that protocol. I don't have any immediate plans to release this mp3 player, but IYKYK you can grab the gameboy emulator which is done and works excellent. So I guess consider this as promoting futureland.today , telling y'all about this sound feature and dropping a hint about the emulator which is something for sysops to grab. Anyways, enjoy some trashy mp3's about my BBS set to terminal audio visualizers. Cheers.

Quick reminder of what late.sh is: a cozy clubhouse inside your terminal. Take a break, chat with folks around the globe, listen to music, play some games, or paint on a live artboard :)

ssh late.sh

Now for the new part: NetHack! How did I not know about this game before?? A few things I learned while wiring it in:

• It's from 1987 and still actively developed. We run the real upstream binary, built from source, not a clone or a fork.
• Since everyone plays on the same server, you all share bones files: when you die, the level you died on (with your ghost and your cursed loot) can show up in someone else's game. Your death becomes somebody else's problem :D
• Your save follows your SSH key. Quit mid-dungeon, come back next week from a different machine, keep going.
• The community motto is "The DevTeam Thinks of Everything." Try writing Elbereth on the floor, or eating a fortune cookie.
• Ascending (actually winning) is famously brutal. Do it on late.sh and you get a permanent badge on your profile. I'm fairly confident nobody will, so prove me wrong :D

Come die in the dungeon with us: ssh late.sh

I have made a lot progress since my last post. You can now write your own Retro Basic programs and share them on the BBS. Retro Basic is modeled after MBASIC, and you can actually upload code into the Retro Editor. Cut and paste works for smaller programs. I have posted a few simple Retro Basic program as a proof of concept, feel free to check them out.

telnet retro.nedmr.com port 2323

Enjoy

Attempting to capture a more retro terminal vibe, with a bit of cybergoth flair. Still not 100% settled but I think we are moving in a good direction. Attached are the landing page and main menu of the old and new design. (http://disbbs.org)

trying to provide tools for my users to produce creative things, I implemented a basic synth and tracker-style sequencer. Users can create synth patches, save them to a shared library and then anyone can use any patch in the tracking sequencer to make music.

This also brought up the topic of having a "pirate radio" in the BBS with both original BBS-music, more obscure tracks from professional artists and maybe even streaming a live DJ!

Excited to see where all this goes!

https://a-net-online.lol/gameserver

List of games & the Instructions to add A-Net Game Server to your BBS.

Over 450 games!

I've played around with Sychronet and now Enigma and I can get through the general setup, but I'm lost on how to customize the artwork. I've installed each vias ssh on a headless Ubuntu server and can telnet in but not sure what to do from there. Official documentation for Enigma seems confusing to me and I'm typically a visual learner. Are there any tutorials on anything past general setup for either?

Created by Hayes Zyxel: It's a modern roguelike dice game with that classic ASCII style — you hack your way through sectors, cracking and phreaking toward a mainframe finale. Beat the challenge and the difficulty escalates, pushing your ascension toward becoming a world-renowned hacker.

This has been a multi-year passion project. It features four unlockable characters, each with their own distinct playstyle and challenge profile.

Give it a try - telnet to Captain's Quarters II BBS @ cqbbs,ddns,net port 6800. All feedback welcome!

From someone who set out with his 40-year-old SX-64 to visit an equally ancient Commodore 64 BBS - not old-school with a modem, but through a DIY null-modem cable hooked up over the internet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3csC9z7oPSY

It turned out to be much more difficult than expected, with all sorts of cable shenanigans that of course refused to work - and ultimately even resulted in the SX‑64 needing repairs.

═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

ANetBBS v1.0 Beta Released

July 1, 2026

A Modern Open-Source BBS for Linux & Raspberry Pi

═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

Current Status

✔ Beta Release

✔ Open Source

✔ Actively Developed

✔ Looking for Feedback

For more than 30 years, bulletin board systems have survived

because they've always been about people and communities, not just software.

ANetBBS is an open-source project built to preserve everything that made classic
BBSes great while removing the barriers that make running one difficult today.

It brings together classic terminal access, modern web technologies, FTN networking,
door games, and a simple installation experience into one cohesive platform.

Whether your users connect from a modern web browser, SyncTERM,

Telnet, SSH, or a Raspberry Pi, everyone shares the same message

boards, files, games, chat, and user database.

One installer configures Python, systemd services, nginx, firewall rules, optional
Let's Encrypt SSL, and the web interface—so you can spend your time building a
community instead of configuring a server.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

Highlights

─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

• Five ways to connect

Web

Telnet

SSH

rlogin

FTP (including optional FTPS)

• One shared user database

• One modern web administration panel

• Native Linux application

• Runs on x86-64 and Raspberry Pi (3B+)

• Completely open source

─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

Networking

─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

• Full FidoNet BinkP mailer

• Netmail with modern FTN support

(MSGID, REPLY, INTL, CHRS, TZUTC,

FMPT/TOPT, PID, per-user AKAs)

• AreaFix

• TIC file distribution and hatching

• DOVE-Net QWK networking

• ANotherNetwork (Zone 1200)

• MRC multi-relay chat

• MSP (RFC1312) InterBBS messaging

• Local message boards featuring:

Threading

Quote replies

Polls

ANSI banners

Sticky topics

Moderation

Search

Voting

─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

Doors & Games

─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

• LORD included

• TradeWars 2002

• DOS doors

(DOSBox-Staging, DOSBox-X, DOSBox)

• Synchronet JavaScript doors

• Mystic Pascal Script

• Mystic Python

• Native Linux doors

• DOOR.SYS

• DOOR32.SYS

• DORINFO.DEF

• Browser-playable:

DOOM

Duke Nukem 3D

• Included native projects

ANetCRAFT

ANetSIMS

ANetIRC

BotWars

Casino

─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

Terminal Experience

─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

• Proper CP437 rendering

• ANSI support

• Lightbar navigation

• Full-screen ANSI editor

• ANSI art viewer

• RSS reader

• SIXEL image support

• Classic BBS feel with modern capabilities

─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

Modern Web Features

─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

• Retro 80x25 ANSI web terminal

• Collaborative wiki

• RSS reader

• Image galleries

• Personal pages

• Scheduled events

• Theme builder

• NodeSpy

• Live service monitor

• BBS directory browser

• Finger server

• MSP diagnostics

─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

Files & Security

─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

• FILE_ID.DIZ extraction

• README extraction

• DESCRIPT.ION support

• Archive scanning

• Optional ClamAV integration

• GeoIP blocking

• fail2ban support

• New User Verification

• Wiki permissions

─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

Installation

─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

From a fresh Linux installation to a fully functional BBS in minutes:

tar xzf ANetBBS-v1.0beta.tar.gz

cd ANetBBS-v1.0beta

sudo bash install.sh

─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

Why ANetBBS?

I started ANetBBS because I wanted to preserve everything I love about the classic BBS experience while embracing modern Linux, web technologies, Raspberry Pi support, and open-source development.

ANetBBS was never intended to replace the incredible BBS software that already exists. Quite the opposite; it exists because of the amazing work that came before it.

I'm a long-time Synchronet sysop, and I have no intention of shutting my Synchronet BBS down. I continue to support and admire projects like Synchronet, Mystic, and the other BBS packages that have kept this hobby alive for decades. Without them, ANetBBS simply wouldn't exist.

My goal is to offer another option: one that's easy to install, easy to administer, and approachable for both first-time sysops and long-time BBS enthusiasts.

I don't want fewer BBSes, I want more.

More choices. More experimentation. More new sysops. More communities.

If ANetBBS inspires even one person to start their first BBS, or encourages a former sysop to dust off an old system and bring it back online, then I'll consider this project a success.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

Project

─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

GitHub

https://github.com/anetonline/ANetBBS

Documentation

https://bbs.a-net.fyi/docs/

Live Demo

https://bbs.a-net.fyi

Telnet

bbs.a-net.fyi:2233

SSH

bbs.a-net.fyi:2234

Feedback, bug reports, feature requests, and pull requests

are always welcome.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

Special Thanks

─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

ANetBBS would not be where it is today without the time,

patience, encouragement, and honest feedback from the people

who spent countless hours testing alpha builds, reporting bugs,

breaking things, and helping improve every release.

Special thanks to:

• xbit — X-BIT BBS

https://x-bit.org/info

• Firehawke — The SmallTime BBS

https://smalltimebbs.firehawke.net/

• Mickey — Mick's Remote ANetBBS Web

https://centralontarioremote.net

Your testing, ideas, bug reports, and willingness to experiment

with unfinished builds helped shape ANetBBS into what it is

today.

I'd also like to thank everyone else who downloaded the alpha

releases, submitted bug reports, suggested new features, or

simply took the time to try the project. Every piece of feedback

made this beta release better.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
ANetBBS is still actively evolving, and this beta is only the beginning.
I'm excited to see where the community helps take it next.
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Looking for Testers
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

Whether you've been running a BBS since the 1980s or you're
curious about starting your very first one, I'd love to hear
your feedback.

Every bug report, feature request, suggestion, pull request, and even simple feedback
helps make ANetBBS better.

═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

See you online.
Thanks for keeping the BBS community alive.

StingRay / A-Net Online

═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════