• bbs and usenet

    From Toaster@21:1/5 to All on Thu Apr 10 01:20:42 2025
    When BBS systems were popular, did anyone ever hook their bbs to
    usenet? I know fidonet came along, but wasn't usenet similar? or was
    fidonet like email?

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From TheCivvie@bbs.rima-iot.eu@21:1/5 to All on Thu Apr 10 08:56:38 2025
    From: Toaster <toaster@dne3.net>

    When BBS systems were popular, did anyone ever hook their bbs to
    usenet? I know fidonet came along, but wasn't usenet similar? or was
    fidonet like email?

    Yes, I always added certain usenet groups to my bbs. Depending on the software, it was configured in the bbs or as an external app. I used to use Soupgate for a long time but before that GiGo

    TC

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Dan Cross@21:1/5 to toaster@dne3.net on Thu Apr 10 12:10:11 2025
    In article <20250410012042.0000194e@dne3.net>,
    Toaster <toaster@dne3.net> wrote:
    When BBS systems were popular, did anyone ever hook their bbs to
    usenet? I know fidonet came along, but wasn't usenet similar? or was
    fidonet like email?

    They did, often to the consternation of USENET users. Sometimes
    it worked well, but often there was cultural conflict, perhaps
    particularly on the more technical groups.

    - Dan C.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From Dumas Walker@21:1/175 to TOASTER on Thu Apr 10 09:14:00 2025
    When BBS systems were popular, did anyone ever hook their bbs to
    usenet? I know fidonet came along, but wasn't usenet similar? or was
    fidonet like email?

    Yes, back in the mid-1990s (about 30 years ago), I carried several usenet newsgroups. It became increasingly difficult to do so, though, as ISPs eventually did away with news servers as a part of their services. I still currently carry a few, like this one, via fidonet hubs that still have a
    gate set up.


    * SLMR 2.1a * A noble spirit embiggens the smallest man. -J.Springfield
    --- SBBSecho 3.20-Linux
    * Origin: capitolcityonline.net * Telnet/SSH:2022/HTTP (21:1/175)
  • From Toaster@21:1/5 to Dumas Walker on Thu Apr 10 11:22:30 2025
    On Thu, 10 Apr 2025 09:14:00 +1300
    Dumas.Walker@f10.n1.z275.fidonet.org (Dumas Walker) wrote:

    When BBS systems were popular, did anyone ever hook their bbs to
    usenet? I know fidonet came along, but wasn't usenet similar? or was fidonet like email?

    Yes, back in the mid-1990s (about 30 years ago), I carried several
    usenet newsgroups. It became increasingly difficult to do so,
    though, as ISPs eventually did away with news servers as a part of
    their services. I still currently carry a few, like this one, via
    fidonet hubs that still have a gate set up.


    * SLMR 2.1a * A noble spirit embiggens the smallest man.
    -J.Springfield

    is there still traffic on fidonet?

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From TheCivvie@bbs.rima-iot.eu@21:1/5 to Toaster on Thu Apr 10 16:49:20 2025
    Toaster wrote to Dumas Walker <=-

    Yes, back in the mid-1990s (about 30 years ago), I carried several
    usenet newsgroups. It became increasingly difficult to do so,
    though, as ISPs eventually did away with news servers as a part of
    their services. I still currently carry a few, like this one, via
    fidonet hubs that still have a gate set up.


    is there still traffic on fidonet?

    Not what it used to be but yes there is still a fairly active user base

    TC

    ... TCOB1: https://binkd.rima.ie telnet: binkd.rima.ie

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Dumas Walker@21:1/175 to TOASTER on Fri Apr 11 09:20:00 2025
    Yes, back in the mid-1990s (about 30 years ago), I carried several
    usenet newsgroups. It became increasingly difficult to do so,
    though, as ISPs eventually did away with news servers as a part of
    their services. I still currently carry a few, like this one, via
    fidonet hubs that still have a gate set up.

    is there still traffic on fidonet?

    Yes, some echoes more than others. COOKING has several messages a day. A couple of the political echoes have lots of traffic. Others have at least
    a message or two a day. Several probably need to be pruned.


    * SLMR 2.1a * "I'm cold, and there are wolves after me!"-Granpa Simpson
    --- SBBSecho 3.20-Linux
    * Origin: capitolcityonline.net * Telnet/SSH:2022/HTTP (21:1/175)
  • From Toaster@21:1/5 to Dumas Walker on Fri Apr 11 12:51:20 2025
    On Fri, 11 Apr 2025 09:20:00 +1300
    Dumas.Walker@f10.n1.z281.fidonet.org (Dumas Walker) wrote:

    Yes, back in the mid-1990s (about 30 years ago), I carried several
    usenet newsgroups. It became increasingly difficult to do so,
    though, as ISPs eventually did away with news servers as a part of
    their services. I still currently carry a few, like this one, via fidonet hubs that still have a gate set up.

    is there still traffic on fidonet?

    Yes, some echoes more than others. COOKING has several messages a
    day. A couple of the political echoes have lots of traffic. Others
    have at least a message or two a day. Several probably need to be
    pruned.


    * SLMR 2.1a * "I'm cold, and there are wolves after me!"-Granpa
    Simpson

    thats great, i watched a documentary on bbs and im glad its still around

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Kurt Weiske@21:1/5 to Toaster on Sat Apr 12 09:27:50 2025
    To: Toaster
    Toaster wrote to alt.bbs <=-

    thats great, i watched a documentary on bbs and im glad its still
    around

    Glad to hear people wanting to learn more about BBSes. Find a terminal
    program, or a BBS with a web site with a HTML terminal and you can log
    on and see for yourself.

    Fidonet is alive and kicking, there are several "othernets" that use the
    same technology as Fidonet, but are smaller and generally have more
    traffic than Fidonet. FSXnet is a network with a broad range of message
    areas and good traffic these days.

    BBSing needs new blood, we're getting old and want to pass on the
    tech... I've been doing this since the 1980s.

    kurt weiske | kweiske at realitycheckbbs dot org
    | http://realitycheckbbs.org
    | 1:218/700@fidonet



    --- MultiMail/Win v0.52
    --- Synchronet 3.20e-Win32 NewsLink 1.2
    * realitycheckBBS - Aptos, CA - telnet://realitycheckbbs.org

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Toaster@21:1/5 to Kurt Weiske on Sat Apr 12 20:15:42 2025
    On Sat, 12 Apr 2025 09:27:50 -0700
    "Kurt Weiske" <kurt.weiske@realitycheckbbs.org.remove-6rs-this> wrote:

    To: Toaster
    Toaster wrote to alt.bbs <=-

    thats great, i watched a documentary on bbs and im glad its still
    around

    Glad to hear people wanting to learn more about BBSes. Find a terminal program, or a BBS with a web site with a HTML terminal and you can log
    on and see for yourself.

    Fidonet is alive and kicking, there are several "othernets" that use
    the same technology as Fidonet, but are smaller and generally have
    more traffic than Fidonet. FSXnet is a network with a broad range of
    message areas and good traffic these days.

    BBSing needs new blood, we're getting old and want to pass on the
    tech... I've been doing this since the 1980s.

    kurt weiske | kweiske at realitycheckbbs dot org
    | http://realitycheckbbs.org
    | 1:218/700@fidonet



    --- MultiMail/Win v0.52
    --- Synchronet 3.20e-Win32 NewsLink 1.2
    * realitycheckBBS - Aptos, CA - telnet://realitycheckbbs.org

    if phone lines weren't so expensive even to this day it'd be nice to
    supply a bbs that allows people to dial-in. some people who dont have
    the luxury of dedicated internet can still get online with their phone
    line.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From TheCivvie@bbs.rima-iot.eu@21:1/5 to Toaster on Sun Apr 13 08:38:22 2025
    Toaster wrote to Kurt Weiske <=-

    Fidonet is alive and kicking, there are several "othernets" that use
    the same technology as Fidonet, but are smaller and generally have
    more traffic than Fidonet. FSXnet is a network with a broad range of
    message areas and good traffic these days.

    BBSing needs new blood, we're getting old and want to pass on the
    tech... I've been doing this since the 1980s.


    if phone lines weren't so expensive even to this day it'd be nice to supply a bbs that allows people to dial-in. some people who dont have
    the luxury of dedicated internet can still get online with their phone line.

    There are plenty of systems listed in the fidonet nodelist with telephone lines. Not sure of a web site that searches the nodelist.

    Sean


    ... TCOB1: https://binkd.rima.ie telnet: binkd.rima.ie

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From phigan@21:1/5 to All on Fri Apr 18 06:44:25 2025
    if phone lines weren't so expensive even to this day it'd be nice to
    supply a bbs that allows people to dial-in. some people who dont have
    the luxury of dedicated internet can still get online with their phone
    line.

    There's a guy that runs the site 2600.network which lists several dialup numbers. The website did say that something was on hold for a bit, but I haven't tried to dial in lately myself. Anyway, when you dial into any
    of the numbers, you can put in a BBS name off of telnetbbsguide.com for
    the username and password, and it will connect you. You can also search telnetbbsguide.com for BBSes with their own dialup numbers. But, with 2600.network, they technically all have dialup access :).

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Ted W.@21:1/5 to All on Sat May 31 01:04:05 2025

    Fidonet is alive and kicking, there are several "othernets" that use the
    same technology as Fidonet, but are smaller and generally have more
    traffic than Fidonet. FSXnet is a network with a broad range of message
    areas and good traffic these days.

    BBSing needs new blood, we're getting old and want to pass on the
    tech... I've been doing this since the 1980s.

    I've been reading the policy4.txt for Fidonet recently trying to get up to speed on it in hopes of joining the network there. I have no heard of FSXnet before, though. I looked them up and started poking around their
    documentation. It seems a lot more approachable than Fidonet on the surface, but as someone with no experience with Fido, their documentation left me with more questions than answers about how to join. Perhaps someone here can give
    me a hand with more information?

    I have a good grasp on service hosting, it's what I do, but what
    software/tools do you need to set up in order to join as a node on these networks? The FSXnet documentatoin makes brief mention of connecting Binkp,
    BBS software, Telnet and SSH but no mention of tools one could use for Binkp and BBS or what to configure for users connecting over Telnet/SSH (though, I assume a BBS would handle that?).

    Any clarity that can be provided here would be appreciated. As "new blood" here, I would like to help carry the torch forward.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From George Musk@21:1/5 to Ted W. on Sat May 31 17:24:28 2025
    On Sat, 31 May 2025 01:04:05 -0000 (UTC), Ted W. wrote:

    I have a good grasp on service hosting, it's what I do, but what software/tools do you need to set up in order to join as a node on these networks? The FSXnet documentatoin makes brief mention of connecting Binkp, BBS software, Telnet and SSH but no mention of tools one could use for Binkp and BBS or what to configure for users connecting over Telnet/SSH (though, I assume a BBS would handle that?).

    You probably can find it in the documentation of your BBS software
    Something like
    https://wiki.synchro.net/howto:fidonet#see_also
    or
    https://nuskooler.github.io/enigma-bbs/messageareas/ftn.html

    Also you can use FTN networks without a BBS, just set up a mailer +
    tosser + editor (smth like https://github.com/golded-plus/golded-plus/ ) + etc.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Aaron Thomas@21:1/5 to All on Sat May 31 09:24:50 2025
    (Other people feel free to help this guy out too but I'll tell him what
    I know!)

    I've been reading the policy4.txt for Fidonet recently trying to
    get up
    to speed on it in hopes of joining the network there. I have no
    heard of
    FSXnet before, though. I looked them up and started poking around
    their
    documentation. It seems a lot more approachable than Fidonet on
    the
    surface, but as someone with no experience with Fido, their
    documentation left me with more questions than answers about how
    to
    join. Perhaps someone here can give me a hand with more
    information?

    Look at the nodelist and try to figure out who runs a Fidonet hub close
    to you. Is there someone in your state? If so, go with that person.
    Contact them and tell them that you're running a BBS in the same state
    and would like to get on the Fidonet nodelist AND that you would like
    them to provide you with a feed. They should then add you to the
    nodelist and give you credentials to use for connecting to their hub
    (to download and upload echomail.)

    If they insist that you follow the policy4 procedures, then that means
    send them netmail from your BBS to prove that your BBS is capable of
    handling echomail. It's a pain and the documentation for doing that
    sucks.

    Let us know where you're at with all that.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)