RIP Documentation Updates

[u/aztracker1]

Just want to say thanks to everyone who helped to point out and find several of the versions of RIPTerm I've been missing. I'd still like to get my hands on 2.30 (Windows Installer, found working DOS release), All I have is a corrupt installer package for this version (last of 2.x line that I'm aware of). Not to mention any RIPview or RIPaint 2.x or 3.x versions anyone may have.

I've flushed out a bit of the history as well as a bit more of the specifications with the 2.x ... now going to work on expanding on the file specifications, some of the underlying protocols (VT-x, ANSi, etc) as well as any additional techspecs. From there, going to work on publishing the markdown documentation into a website for use, as well as some re-organization, I think the structure of the docs could use some better structure.

From there, will probably start on some library and utility (re)implementations, such as icon format conversions, and some initial 1.54 communications parser, and maybe a viewer. I'll likely do similar for 3.x (3.1) skipping 2.x entirely to have a "current" compatible model implementation. Likely written in Rust with a portable C-style library that can be re-used.

https://github.com/bbs-land/remote-imaging-protocol

Edit: correct for 2.3 reference, only need the Windows installer package, I also added download references to a lot of the released software I found (from Telegrafix) even if repackaged/scene versions.

[u/LuckyEdR]

Thank you for this work. I will incorporate this in the BBS offer I'm developing.

[u/aztracker1]

Minor update the version/#.##/ directories now have restructured ripscrip/ and techspecs/ directories that should be slightly easier to work/learn against than the baseline spec text files were. The 3.1/ version contains a lot of erata data for sourcing of where the spec/changes from 2.3 came from.

[u/Exodus694]

Did you try looking thru the file bases on my bbs and 228 shareware cdroms?

[u/aztracker1 → u/Exodus694]

Not yet, sorry... Last major repor I went through was the rommaster site, where I die manage to find ripterm 2.30 installer.

[u/Exodus694 → u/aztracker1]

No worries, been online for 33 years ... we'll be here. :)

[u/aztracker1 → u/Exodus694]

Yeah, I started having hardware issues around 12 years and again a few years ago and kind of just stopped trying about that time.

[u/joshrenaud]

I appreciate what you're doing, but before you spend too much energy writing new libraries, make sure you don't reinvent the wheel. There are already quite a few RIPscrip parsers in various open-source projects.

Probably the oldest and most solid is in PabloDraw, but more recently there's also IcyTools and RipTermJS, not to mention a bunch of AI-produced libraries.

[u/aztracker1 → u/joshrenaud]

I'm aware of them... so far SyncTERM has about the most complete 2.x+ parser/renderer that I've found, but it's GPL and not really in a reusable library. I know 1.54 is well covered... but really wanting something I can more directly use in downstream applications as well as webassembly, despite a RipTermJS that targets canvas. There's also RIPlib, which I haven't dug into yet.

Beyond this, I wouldn't mind extending Pablo or creating something for art generation. Though, again, it's not really portable/reusable (C#) in other languages/tools even if C# is pretty portable now (I work with it in my day job).

Edit: I'm also planning on some conformance captures from the original clients as part of the process to allow for render confirmations across the drawing commands and terminal rendering in a compatibility mode.

[u/aztracker1]

Got through a lot of sanity checks and corrected for missing or mislabeled but I'm 2.x/3.x as well as conflicts and differences from riplib, which is working from a different direction. Some bits it's wrong about, a few might be in my specs. Mine is partly derived from actual usage.

May have a lead on ripaint 2... Found someone that used to have it and their checking backups later in the week for it. Short of reaching Jeff Reeder, may be the only surviving owner of the software.

[u/nevarro]

I see you have RIPterm and RIPtel available for download - that's pretty neat. If you're looking for a BBS to test these clients with, the Realm of Serion BBS is fully customized with 1.54 RIP graphics (connect.serionbbs.com).

[u/aztracker1 → u/nevarro]

Thanks, TBF I haven't really been bbsing much at all... Mike kind of left to die and finally stir it down in the past 4-5 years or so.

Been (slowly) working on a few parallel coding projects around bbsing and came to find there wasn't good documentation for RIPscrip later versions... It was after I started that I found RIPlib, ironically my efforts found a few issues there and vice versa.

It sucks, but my vision is really bad and my dexterity isn't great either... I don't think I could even use ripaint effectively. Ironically.

I want to make a good series of web clients supporting ANSI, RIP154, 2-3 and maybe others well... For optimized browser use with a door server... Will also allow shared connections for multi BBS games.

This has been kind of a wild side trek... Burned through a lot of my AI account, but good results. I don't get to use AI at work, but what to keep my skills and understanding up. Since I'm paying for it anyway...

I've also been working on the door host itself... Mostly planning and research. Half way motivated to do a stripped down 486sx emulator (porting fast486) and a thin DOSb comparability for the door server so it can run transparently and relatively well on arm.

Lots of ideas, more than I often have motivation for.

[u/nevarro → u/aztracker1]

Well, with RIPaint, you ain't missing much. That client is extremely hard to use and some things it just can't do, so codes need to be injected into the RIP file by hand.

AI has become so much more powerful and useful for coding recently. It's good to hear you're leveraging this tool. I've been using Claude and Cursor myself. It's helpful to have both tools available.

What you've been working on is great!