Thinking about re-launching my old BBS

[Bishop077]

So I was sifting through my old archives last night and ran across my old BBS backups, and I'm entertaining the idea of relaunching it on telnet. I know I can get a few of my old user base back at least for a little while as a few of us were just talking about it a week ago.

I'd really like to just set up a stand alone system that I can tuck away in my garage to do this.

So I have to make some decisions before I push forward on this little project of mine, and if anyone is willing to chime in, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

1. Which OS to use?

 Should I go with Amithlon, AROS, or a linux install with E-UAE? As this is just a hobby project so PPC is out of the question because I honestly don't want to shell out anymore cash to get compatible hardware. I've got a ton of x86 systems available.
I'm pretty sure I know the answer to this, as I'm sure any of the aforementioned OS's will work to one degree or another. Just throwing the question out there for your opinion under the circumstances.

2. Has anyone had luck running C-net in an emulated environment?

I did a little research on C-Net last night and it looks pretty dead so I'm not expecting the authors to get back to me any time soon. I know I'll need the telnet.device and probably a fist full of luck.

Right now I'm leaning on a hardened Linux install that launches E-UAE at boot.  Though Amithlon is a contender as well.

Thanks!
~B

[Duce]

Excelsior! BBS is entirely free and very CNet like, tbh.  Runs fine on a XP/UAE box I have.  Can be DL'ed at:

http://www.excelsiorbbs.com/downloads.html

One of the devs/caretakers of E! is also here on A.org too - LamboJay, and is a tremendous help, super nice fellow to boot.

I've run Zeus and DLG mainly lately, but Zeus handles my PPC SAM 440  better than DLG so I've mainly stuck with Zeus.  It's not free (Zeus), but only like $30 or something  to buy and it's a great piece of software that is still maintained to some degree.

DLG is now open source, including the source code.  DLG BB/OS isn't as pretty and intuitive as the more GUI BBS like Zeus and E! are from the sysops end, but it's absolutely rock solid and blazing fast esp. if you plan on having usenet or FTN's.  DLG can be found on Aminet, including the source - and works well in an emulated environment.  It's entirely modular and likely the fastest, most stable BBS software I ever ran back in the day in combo with GMS Mailer and MailManager.

I would recommend taking a peek at Zeus first, tbh - it really is a nice BBS program and can be setup in all sorts of ways, the GUI on it is just great and virtually everything is just Arexx based.  Likely the best Amiga BBS prog out there if you enjoy a real customized setup for your users.  I was a beta tester for Zeus back in the day and it's still every bit as good as it was back in the 90's.

http://www.zeusdev.co.uk/

As for CNet, much like everyone else I've been trying to get ahold of it for what seems like years now, as I was a 3.x regged user of it, but had zero luck.

Good luck!

[Bishop077]

The main reason I wanted to use my old CNet BBS was the old door game Hack' n' Slash, and all the old ASCII Art I made while I was supposed to be doing my homework.

I think I found a Linux port for HnS too, if any of those will run it I'll switch.  

It is a shame Cnet is DOA for now. I wish Xray the best is reviving the project.

Thanks for the recommendation Duce!

[Duce]

Hack and Slash will run on all the Amiga BBS software.  I've run it on E!, DLG, CNet and Zeus just fine, it's just a standard STDIO/DOS door, so if the BBS software can just pass the args thru it, it works fine.

IIRC, there's even a standalone version of H&S for the Amiga, requiring no BBS.  The ASCII and ANSI art could all be reused in any BBS program as your welcome.txt, or what have you.

[Bishop077]

I was just reading that... And now looking back I remember my rival board was running something other then CNet back in 95 and they had it as well.  I want to say he was using Amiexpress or something.  I remember seeing red when I logged into this guys board and saw some of my ansi art slaughtered as his menu system....  Grrr... Still boils my blood thinking about it, but I have to say I do miss those days.  I've got Excelsior installed now and I'm poking through all the settings, baring any interruptions this evening, I'll have a working BBS again soon!  Again thanks for the help!

[Duce]

Need a hand with anything, just holler - I'm still quite familiar with all the old Amiga BBS SW.  Some of the old stuff like "mailers" are pretty much redundant now in the internet age, and there's a pretty decent Amiga version of binkd, which allows you to get into FTN (Fido Type Networks) a lot easier and more modern, though I still use the PC version of bink and just use SAMBA to read them off the PC from my Amiga.

If you enjoyed CNet, you'll likely enjoy Excelsior a lot - I found it to be quite similar, real nice to use from the sysop and very similar to CNet on the users end.