/|\ How to Connect to the Atari BBS's -=-=-=-=-=-=-=--==-=--===--=-=-= > Hi Doc, > If you can make me a step by step manual, I give it a go! > Cheers, > Sijmen. / Mr Atari That is the least I can do for someone who made a movie player for the Atari 8-bit and the MyIde interface. To matter the fact, this message is being sent out as a general invitation to a few that may or may not have known about the growing number of Atari BBS's that are being set up over telnet. (Or didn't know there was a movie player for the 800xl or ide interface I suppose as well.) :) This is also my submission for the A-One online newsletter and IMAGE newsletter at the same time! ;) The next big part of this will talk about what a BBS is and how to connect. If you have a good grasp on all that, and just want to know the actual BBS locations and what to find on them, skip past on this next part till you find the big Atari symbol made in ASCII art and the title heading ³Here are the addresses and what to look for once there.² /|\ WHAT IS A BBS? I always feel I should just put this blurb in when talking about the BBS's. I mean, though many Atari users are fully aware of what they are, I am happy to say that we have such a new crowd, many brought in by the internet, that they don't know. In short, we have new blood and that is a very good thing. A BBS, plain and simple, is some hobbyist setting up their own computer to answer incoming calls from other hobby computers. The visiting person leaves messages on this computer for other visitors, plays games while visiting, sends and receives files, and all that. Oh, and BBS stands for "Bulletin Board System." Think of a cork board where notes are thumb tacked to it throughout the day and that is a good visual idea of what this is. /|\ WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THAT AND THE INTERNET? Probably not much. So let's look at what an Atari BBS has to offer. First off, the internet! Since all the BBS's are connected through the internet, they are actually better in a way than their "good ole days" counterparts where the BBS was either local or a long distance charge was involved. At one time you might have found five Atari BBS's in a local dialing area and hundreds of other BBS's. Today, that feeling is there once again, thanks to the internet as hundreds of BBS's are springing up like weeds, and at least five BBS's (so far) are within dialing range once more, so to speak. ;) The Atari BBS's offer a segway of the internet that the Atari 8-bit computers can easily understand and use. They are usually 40 column, and feature ATASCII characters, which was the Atari special type of ASCII character set. Because of this, having a real Atari or Atari emulator to visit the Atari BBS's is nice to see the creative ATASCII art that has been created. And even more fun is the ATASCII "Break Type" movies where people have taken this art and made short cartoons. In truth, when you are on Atari BBS's you will be and see things that few will ever see. That road less traveled will make all the difference. ;) It is important to briefly note that through BBS's, both Atari and non-Atari, you can read E-mail, check newsgroups (like the Atari 8 and ST newsgroups), and other activities are possible. And there are BBS's and services out there that have a web browser online that you can call with the Atari computer and surf the web with. The browser is all text and might take a bit of getting used to; however, it is interesting to search Google using an Atari 400. :D HOW DO I GET THERE? At the end of this brief introduction, I will feature the locations on how to get to the various Atari BBS's. But the ways to get there would include... 1) finding a local BBS that has both a dial in number and the means to "telnet" out. In this way, you are borrowing the internet connection of another computer that you will connect the Atari computer to via phone. Once you connect to that other computer, you would select the telnet option, and enter in the address like "telnet://bfbbs.no-ip.com" getting you to where you need to go. In this case, that other BBS acts as a bridge. If you want to try this option and don't mind a long distance call, let me suggest the following numbers... Collin County 972-562-8064 Log in, from main menu hit A for Arcade, 8 for other places And then 7 or 8 chooses already listed Atari BBS's. Family-Net BBs 972-496-0650 Log in, and at the main prompt type "Telnet" and then at the next prompt type the address, for example "bfbbs.no-ip.com" The best mostly accurate list for looking up such a service close to you, if there is one (and they can be rare) can best be found at www.bbsmates.com. Trick in these cases is to call using bobterm in ASCII. Once you have telnetted to the other BBS and connected, you can then switch your term program to ATASCII and enjoy the Atari BBS as it was meant to be enjoyed. When you exit the Atari BBS and return to the host BBS you called to get that Atari BBS, make sure to switch back to ASCII. 2) Use a more modern Computer (or non-Atari) This is perhaps the easiest way to start and try this out. Alan Sharkis is a well known Atari user who has logged on for quite some time with this method. First, for about any modern computer go to your internet browser and enter in the address line something like "Telnet://bfbbs.no-ip.com" and the browser will open (hopefully) the right program to take you to that BBS location. It will be understandable, though not with the ATASCII character set. There are solutions for seeing ATASCII characters on the PC. One is found at http://www.atarimax.com called the Atari Terminal Simulator (ATS) which is freely downloadable. This will only view Atari 40 column ATASCII BBS's, but does a fine job of it. There is one question... "Dr. Clu, I quickly see that for me to access BF BBS this computer seems to need to emulate a terminal program! Might you suggest one? Using Windows XP, the connection is not the best; was able to connect once out of 5 or 6 attempts. Of the 4 options to use the BBS, which one should be chosen? Be well. Sparky!" Well Sparky, I have to admit, I have been able to use the ATS on Win 98 and 2000 very well, but have run into trouble with it under XP. I'm sure this can be worked out, and will tinker with at work when my boss isn't looking. :D But in the meantime, try logging on with Hyperterm. Check it out, have fun writing to Atari users, and we'll work out the rest in time. For now, we would love and even need your company so come on over! ;) 3) APE interface PC gateway. Speaking of www.atarimax.com, Stever Tucker made this wonderful ability in the windows version of APE (the program and cable that lets you make a PC an Atari's bit...er..slave. :D) there is a great ability to tap into the PC's internet. Bring up the APE program on the PC, Bobterm on the Atari, and Bobterm will notice the internet out there. Now you can enter in a telnet address and it will take you right to it. Nice and basically cheap setup, and great way to take advantage of the internet setup on your PC. 4) Serial to ethernet interfaces. (UDS-10/ MSS-1, etc) The buzz word in Atari BBS'ing these days is a fabulous device that allows your Atari to connect to it via the serial port. The device has a serial port on one end, and a lan port on the other. This device will add your Atari to your home internet network. "Internet what? Hold on pilgram... What in tarnation are you talking about?" Ok, at home, maybe you have cable modem or DSL. Maybe you have one of those little fangled routers that let you share this service with more than one computer. That is what I'm talking about. From that router, you have cables going to your PC, and a few other PC's, and now you can have a cable that goes to your Atari computer as well. These serial to ethernet interfaces emulate a modem. You say "AT" in the term program, the interface, like a modem, will say "OK". I have the UDS-10, and I was able to set the interface up using an Atari computer and nothing else. The interface has enough smarts to give you a menu to set it up. Setting it up might take some work, but I, or Marius or anyone else with a UDS-10/100 or MSS-1 would be willing to help if you ask nicely. Once this interface is setup, you hit a macro on Bobterm, and quicker than dialing in, instantly you are on. And all that macro has to say is "ATDT213.10.217.144/8888" Just like you were dialing a phone number, but in this case it is the Atari BBS's IP address over the internet. Kewl eh? ._,-,_. ||| ||| ³HERE ARE THE ADDRESSES... ||| ||| ;|| ||: ... AND WHAT TO LOOK FOR ONCE THERE...² ./ /| |\ \. |./ :_: \.| Current Atari BBS List 01/12/2005 Atari Inside telnet://213.10.217.144/8888 Boot Factory telnet://bfbbs.no-ip.com Closer To Home telnet://cth.dtdns.net Mousenet BBS telnet://atari-bbs.kicks-ass.net Inside the 8-bit telnet://216.78.138.17/8888 or 8889 (two lines) CHAT ONLY (This BBS is not run on a Atari or Atari emulation but makes a simple chat room to reach with an Atari computer) Www.atarinews.org telnet://216.240.173.22 (ANSI terminal like Ice-T suggested) Tuesday chat at 8 pm CST Thurday chat at 8 pm CST Sunday chat at 10 am CST (Also known as the Europe chat) What you will find when you arrive at these BBSıs are usually a nice ATASCII drawing if you have a term program that supports that. If not, they usually have a creative non-ATASCII one. Being Pro! BBSıs (the type of BBS program they are running) most of them have a ³Q² command which will give you a quick scan of the messages other have written. It will say you are on message 1 of 50... Skip to like 45 by hitting either a ³J² for jump to number, or ³G² for goto number. Just be careful that the G is not for ³Goodbye². :) Read the last ten messages, maybe read the rest later or not. But see what has been written there. Then you can hit sometime like R for reply, or P for Post a new message, and that is how you jump in and have fun. Leave your message, and hopefully in turn others will write back. Cartoons at the main menu is where those ATASCII ³break type² cartoons are. Usually quite entertaining. Just remember, these are not regular graphics, but key characters placed around each other to look like a picture or graphics. A fun artform in itıs own self. Games section at the main menu usually has a selection of simple games like Kingdom, online Chess, and so on. SO ONE BIG QUESTION... WHY?!? ------- And the question comes up again.. Why? These places make a great place to leave messages to other Atari users. But then you can do that in E-mail. These places offer a great place for discussions... But then there are newsgroups for that. These offer a place to share files, but the you can do that on the internet too. But you know what is really fun? Turning off the rest of the world for a bit, and turning on a Atari computer, and only that. And with whatever means listed above, or others not listed, calling BBSıs, checking mail and the newsgroups, and then stopping off in that bit of Atari with the ATASCII graphics and just being off in another rarely seen world. A world that belongs to you a few others. And then you realize that your Atari computer is connected to another Atari computer on the other side. A fun thought. And maybe youıll turn on the rest of the world... Or maybe a day will go by when you donıt have to if you donıt want to. Just you and your Atari computer taking care of business. Always fun to dream. (I know youıll questions, to matter the fact, Iım hoping on it. ;) Write me at greg.goodwin ( A T ) rdfig (D O T ) net.) (Oh yeh, ST Users, I know these are mainly 8-bit BBSıs, but please do stretch your STıs legs and come by and visit. And there is talk on a ST BBS making a return, so stay tuned...)