
How to get a C64 on WiFi and start BBSing again - erickhill
https://amigalove.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=159
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milesf
I was huge into the BBS scene in the early 80's. My favourite were Blue Boards
written by the late Martin Sikes:
[http://www.penmachine.com/martinsikes/](http://www.penmachine.com/martinsikes/)

Martin was an early influencer in my life. Here I am 30 years later and I
still love technology.

I have been searching for a copy of his Blue Board software for years so I can
setup a memorial BBS site over telnet in Martin's honour. I even managed to
contact the owner of the original Sota Software who published Blue Board, but
I haven't heard from him since. If anyone knows where I could find a copy I'd
be very grateful
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Board_(software)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Board_\(software\))

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chrissnell
Fantastic. I miss the BBS scene and I miss FidoNet. I've been writing a lot of
Go lately and I sometimes daydream about writing a FidoNet-compatible mailer
in it. I wonder if there's anybody left to talk to.

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AJ007
The ubiquitous of communication today removes a lot of the magic of the BBS,
at least to me.

On the other hand, I think there is a compelling narrative for continuing
simplification of interfaces. There is no reason that 90% of what is posted,
read, and written on hn couldn't be totally done in a simple terminal
interface.

Mobile phones collapsed complex desktop interfaces down to a single column.
Bots and sensors are making things even simpler than that. We are going from
complicated back to simple again, at least from the user's viewpoint.

~~~
mysterydip
I think what is really lacking today is small communities tied to a physical
locality as in BBSes. Social media today focused so much on "contact anyone"
that something was lost along the way. Sure you can make lists or subgroups,
but the hierarchy is flipped. I think somewhere out there is a niche for a
web/mobile BBS-esque site where people can sysop their own local communities
and select from a list of features like conversations, events, games, mail,
etc.

~~~
chrissnell
Also, the barrier for entry is so much lower now. Having a working modem and
terminal program and the phone numbers of some local FidoNet BBSes was just so
much harder to organize than an email or web client is today. The high barrier
helped elevate the level of conversation on things like Fido's Echomail (akin
to Usenet for Fido BBSes).

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amiga-workbench
Very cool, I've got an RR-Net cart for mine and use Contiki to browse the web.

I haven't found a telnet client that will work nicely just yet.

[http://mos6581.com/pictures/commodore-64/fsf.jpg](http://mos6581.com/pictures/commodore-64/fsf.jpg)

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xnzakg
The OLED screen looks kind of out of place tbh. I think it would look better
with a good old LCD.

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noja
Good old LCD? Funny guy.

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vidarh
"Good old LCD" isn't that unreasonable.

Commodore actually bought an LCD manufacturer in the early 80's as part of
Tramiels obsession with vertical integration. And as one result of that they
built a prototype portable machine using an LCD in 1984 ( _NOT_ a C64
compatible, though). It was presented at Winter CES in 1985, but never made it
to production:

[http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?st=1&c=108](http://www.old-
computers.com/museum/computer.asp?st=1&c=108)

~~~
jandrese
Commodore seems like the kind of company that only ever succeeded despite its
management. That laptop as described is ahead of its time and amazingly
affordable ($500) and they killed it in the cradle. The most amazing part is
that it apparently was going to run on 4 AAs for 5 hours.

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tluyben2
I am (very slowly) writing software for a MSX BBS; I have the same setup I ran
a BBS on for many years in the 80s. Except for the modem being connected to a
landline, it is connected to the internet. Well it will be when it works. It
has been a long standing dream since I watched (begin 80s) some guys who
taught me games in assembly, create BBS software in Pascal and run BBSs from
circuit boards from MSX computers they had hanging from their ceiling to save
space (and it looked cool to me) in their tiny attic at their parents place.

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Dowwie
I wonder what type of speed a modem made of modern components may achieve
using a conventional phoneline based transmission today..

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jylam
you mean *DSL? The issue lies with the copper pair and the frequencies used.
And of course the hardware in-between. So between 10 and 120Mbits/s.

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mkesper
Your lower bound is much too high. In our development country re network
access (Germany) we still have areas getting "DSL light" with rates of
384kbit/s down and 64 kbit/s up (but equal pay...)

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SixSigma
Seeing as you need a TV etc. then it is worth considering serial too.

