This is bbs.anduin.net:

Obsolete hardware running obsolete software providing obsolete social media

See below for the juicy bits!

About this project

This is the somewhat younger sibling of my floppy.museum project. The idea is even older, and several attempts at getting started, and several early incarnations of the BBS, precede what is currently running. In the sections below I'll attempt to describe, in somewhat broad terms, how the BBS is set up.

On 2024-03-19 I opened up my BBS to the world!

Having spent a significant amount of (my dads') money on BBS access, and significant amounts of time in various discussions and flame wars, I felt it was only natural to spin up a BBS of my own. I did so back then, and I think I had about 10 visitors in total (not saying how many individuals..). I'll be happy if the BBS I spun up in 2024 will exceed that number.

How to connect

Find yourself a decent terminal emulator which supports ANSI, IBM PC character sets (CP437, CP850, etc.) and can connect via Telnet. Alternatively, you can use a WiModem232 or other similar serial-to-wifi adapter - Tindie and other places have several to choose from. Some OSes even have drivers and software that provide virtual serial ports and software-emulated modems.

Once you have the necessary tools, connect to bbs.anduin.net on the standard Telnet port (23). After an easy math quiz (designed to keep port-scanning script kiddies away from the poor old 386-class machine), you'll be passed on to the BBS itself. Welcome!

Note: The below is roughly accurate as of March 21, 2024. Some of the linked config files and scripts may not yet be available. See also the event log for updates.

The configuration

There have been far too many interations and failed attempts to get the BBS running to be able to accurately document exactly what is needed, but I'll try to describe what I can.

Note that most of these links are external; this server is still the 286 PC it has always been and the poor floppy can't hold all the goodies listed below. Some of the links are served by one of the BBS node hosts, while some may be served by the Telnet/HTTP proxy that sits in front of the BBS.

Overview

• A 386-class PC running OS/2 Warp 3 with TCP/IP installed
• All the latest Fixpaks for the above
• The software listed in The software table below
• Since the BBS data lives on a LAN share, the LAN server or IBM Peer components are needed
  • As of August 2024, I'm using a Novell NetWare server on period-correct hardware as the home of the BBS software and data
• My local config files:
  • xfer.cmd - An X/Y/Zmodem wrapper script for OS/2 nodes
  • xfer.bat - An X/Y/Zmodem wrapper script for DOS nodes
  • qnet.cmd - A QWK fetch script for OS/2 nodes
  • qnet.bat - A QWK fetch script for DOS nodes
• Patience
• Beer (or equivalent beverage)
• A pillow to cry into when you realise what you're spending your precious time on..

The hardware

Main BBS node

Secondary BBS nodes

See the floppy.museum page - the Floppy Museum servers occasionally also run the BBS software. They're not terribly pleasant to log on to (things take time), but as a proof-of-concept it works. A 286 *can* multitask a webserver, an FTP server, an IRC server and a BBS node. Imagine that.

File server

The software

Event log
(Newest entry first)

• 2024-08-12: New file server, new node! Given that the BBS was eating itself when served from a Samba share, it ended up taking an extended knee (as did I). In the meantime, I got my Novell NetWare for OS/2 server spun up, and it has now replaced the Samba server. Let's hope it's more stable this way!
  For fun, I managed to cram the Novell client software onto the Floppy Museum floppy, and after much tuning to preserve precious conventional RAM, was able to add a BBS node. If the poor 286 was bulging a bit before, it's now positively obese with running services!
  
  
• 2024-03-20: The Bulletin Board System is open! On a separate piece of hardware (a 386..), the Synchronet BBS software is now serving up bbs.anduin.net on port 23 (telnet). There are vague plans to add an LTE modem to allow actual phone calls; we'll see if and when that materialises. See the BBS section over at the Floppy Museum for a couple additional details.
  
  

Contact

See floppy.museum/thispc.htm#contact for information about me, including hints on how to get in touch.

Note: This page is optimized for Netscape Navigator 2.02 for OS/2.