Does anyone know of really small BBS software for DOS? Something
that can run off a floppy, and maybe even support
FTN?
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Does anyone know of really small BBS software for DOS? Something
that can run off a floppy, and maybe even support
FTN?

I came across TinyHost which seems to work well, but it's pretty limited. Unzipped it comes in at 15 files and 186K in size.

... Running Windows is better than washing them!

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/12/24 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Kumpute Nation BBS (21:2/125)

Re: Tiny BBS for DOS?
By: MissChief to All on Tue Aug 30 2022 06:56 am

Does anyone know of really small BBS software for DOS? Something that can run off a floppy, and maybe even support FTN?

I don't know, but one thing I thought of was that Telix (terminal emulator) has a small host mode which does something similar to a BBS, though it's not a full BBS packge by any means. I wonder if that would be small enough to run on a floppy disk.

Nightfox
--- SBBSecho 3.15-Linux
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Quoting message from Misschief to All
on 30 Aug 22 06:56:22 ...

Does anyone know of really small BBS software for DOS? Something
that can run off a floppy, and maybe even support
FTN?

The latest version of Renegade is great and could possibly be squeezed onto a floppy in a very minimal configuration. It would be tough to get a
mailer on there too though.

Anyway, great question! I'm curious to learn about this as well.

-ZR

... Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?

--- Renegade v1.30/DOS
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On 30 Aug 2022 at 06:56a, MissChief pondered and said...

Does anyone know of really small BBS software for DOS? Something
that can run off a floppy, and maybe even support
FTN?

Hi there :)

Curious to understand what sort of system you're thinking of running it on, does it need to be a floppy?

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/12/24 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Agency BBS | Dunedin, New Zealand | agency.bbs.nz (21:1/101)

Does anyone know of really small BBS software for DOS? Something
that can run off a floppy, and maybe even support
FTN?

Hi there :)
Curious to understand what sort of system you're thinking of running it on, does it need to be a floppy?

I was thinking of running something off my old Tandy 1000HX. But to be honest it might be more trouble than it's worth, especially with the drives not
being reliable.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Storm BBS (21:2/108)

On 30 Aug 22 08:11:41 MissChief wrote...

Does anyone know of really small BBS software for DOS?
Something that can run off a floppy, and maybe even support
FTN?

I came across TinyHost which seems to work well, but it's pretty
limited. Unzipped it comes in at 15 files and 186K in size.

... Running Windows is better than washing them!

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/12/24 (Linux/64) * Origin: Kumpute
Nation BBS (21:2/125)

To which Commodore Clifford replies...

Does it support FTN?

--- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01]
* Origin: STar Fleet HQ - Real Atari! bbs.sfhqbbs.org:5983 (21:3/171.0)

I came across TinyHost which seems to work well, but it's pretty limited. Unzipped it comes in at 15 files and 186K in size.

Does it support FTN?

No, in fact it's very very basic for a BBS package. Perfect if I just want to transfer some files from machine to machine, or leave a simple message.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Storm BBS (21:2/108)

On 04 Sep 2022 at 02:11p, MissChief pondered and said...

I was thinking of running something off my old Tandy 1000HX. But to be honest it might be more trouble than it's worth, especially with the drives not being reliable.

ah, OK cool... good luck if you opt to try, yes the joys of making stuff talk to each other etc. :)

Best, Paul

avon@bbs.nz / bbs.nz / fsxnet.nz

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/12/24 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Agency BBS | Dunedin, New Zealand | agency.bbs.nz (21:1/101)

There is at least one CP/M bbs that would run on that with a floppy. I
know the original Citidel. That could be fun???

James

--- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01]
* Origin: STar Fleet HQ - Real Atari! bbs.sfhqbbs.org:5983 (21:3/171.0)

Does anyone know of really small BBS software for DOS? Something
that can run off a floppy, and maybe even support FTN?

You might like to see this bbS in action, its on a C/PM machine and I know it runs on a disk;

MicroBBS CB2/QRP.GR qrp.gr:2323



|07p|15AULIE|1142|07o
|08.........

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 2022/07/15 (Linux/64)
* Origin: 2o fOr beeRS bbS>>20ForBeers.com:1337 (21:2/150)

You might like to see this bbS in action, its on a C/PM machine and I
know it runs on a disk;

MicroBBS CB2/QRP.GR qrp.gr:2323

Sweet thanks, I'll check it out.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/12/24 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Storm BBS (21:2/108)

know it runs on a disk;

MicroBBS CB2/QRP.GR qrp.gr:2323

Sweet thanks, I'll check it out.

I just ran across this question today, but it's a topic I've thought
about a lot over the last several years.

Back in the day, there were FTN-connected systems running from floppy.
I'm pretty sure they were using an older OPUS-CBCS, maybe 1.03 or 1.14.
These were 300/1200 baud systems and they were slow but usable. I'm sure
Fido 10j or 11 would run on floppy too, but that's before my time.

Speaking of tomj, he also wrote a small BBS called Puppy that's floating around, specifically for this use case. Circular message base, no
frills, intended for running from floppy. I don't know that anyone
actually ever ran it, but the binaries are around if you hunt.

Getting such a beast to talk to the net would be interesting. There is a
DOS package called rlfossil.zip that allows for a single serial channel
to be emulated by TCP connection. It is good enough to support
interactive sessions. I am not sure if it will support an FTN session.
Again, maybe at 1200 baud FTS-0001 only. Hold the ZedZap.


--- Talisman v0.44-dev (Windows/x86)
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Getting such a beast to talk to the net would be interesting. There is a DOS package called rlfossil.zip that allows for a single serial channel
to be emulated by TCP connection. It is good enough to support interactive sessions. I am not sure if it will support an FTN session. Again, maybe at 1200 baud FTS-0001 only. Hold the ZedZap.

I'm using RLFOSSIL at tlp. It can be configured to report any speed, but I don't believe it actually has any effect on throughput. I've got FrontDoor running on top of it reliably talking to 21:3/100. Within the BBS though I cannot get any file transfer to work reliably. It appears to be related to latency, the further away you are the worse it gets. Over LAN I can get X/Y modem to function reasonably. I guess the other thing to note is I'm using
it in a VM and real hardware might well produce a better result. The last
and in some ways more catastrophic problem is it tends to go deaf. If the
port you assign it to gets hit by the script kiddies, RLFOSSIL will
eventually start ignoring the connects, don't have any good reason for this.

Spec


*** THE READER V4.50 [freeware]
--- SuperBBS v1.17-3 (Eval)
* Origin: A camel is a horse designed by a committee. (21:3/101)

I'm using RLFOSSIL at tlp. It can be configured to report any speed,

Hi,

Are you able to connect to frontdoor and load the bbs up in combination with RLFOSSIL ? At my site it drops the carrier, which I think is logical, but I just would like to know for sure.

Gtx!
sPI!

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 2022/07/15 (Linux/64)
* Origin: -.sNd!GRDn.- (21:1/116)

Are you able to connect to frontdoor and load the bbs up in combination with RLFOSSIL ? At my site it drops the carrier, which I think is
logical, but I just would like to know for sure.

I'm not sure what you're getting at. However if it answers your question I'll have a go anyways. I found rlfossil to be a bit pedantic on how it will run.

I actually have a seperate VM running FrontDoor, so that's its only job, its not actually accepting incoming "calls". I left the BBS nodes to handle the incoming connects.

Originally I had trouble getting FD to work at all. It'd load report no
fossil and shut up shop. I ended up loading rlfossil from autoexec and
having to call the appropriate batch file from the command line otherwise it seems to unload itself. I suspect it I rewrote the batch files at this point so each node had an FD install at the front it'd probably be workable. But given it works the way it is, I'm not in a hurry to try it the other way around.

I don't know what BBS software you're using, but for FD to work as the front end you need to tell the BBS that the fossil is hot and online when you load it. For me with SuperBBS this is... bbs.exe -B 19200 or whatever other speed its configured for. Whatever yours may be will vary. If you just try and run the BBS as a normal startup first thing it'll try and do is initialise the fossil again and hang it up.

Spec


*** THE READER V4.50 [freeware]
--- SuperBBS v1.17-3 (Eval)
* Origin: A camel is a horse designed by a committee. (21:3/101)

Are you able to connect to frontdoor and load the bbs up in combination

Just an extra note...

The last thing my autoexec.bat loads is rlfossil.

c:\rlfossil\rlfossil 0 1 "f:\fd.bat"

If you never exit fd.bat it'll work as expected. So loading your BBS
afterwards should be fine so long as its passed the already connected parameter.

All other variations of this command line failed for me. I had to run
rlfossil full path, and I had to run the batch file out of the root directory on the target volume. Call whatever you like from the first batch file,
fd.bat in this example, but never exit it, or rlfossil will unload.

Spec


*** THE READER V4.50 [freeware]
--- SuperBBS v1.17-3 (Eval)
* Origin: A camel is a horse designed by a committee. (21:3/101)

Are you able to connect to frontdoor and load the bbs up in combinati

Just an extra note...

I was/am a bit busy/ill this week, but wanted to let you know that I will have a look at it this weekend. Thanks for the reply!!

gTx!
sPI

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 2022/07/15 (Linux/64)
* Origin: -.sNd!GRDn.- (21:1/116)

I was/am a bit busy/ill this week, but wanted to let you know that I will have a look at it this weekend. Thanks for the reply!!

In your own time, have at it! :)

Spec


*** THE READER V4.50 [freeware]
--- SuperBBS v1.17-3 (Eval)
* Origin: A camel is a horse designed by a committee. (21:3/101)

Are you able to connect to frontdoor and load the bbs up in combinati

Just an extra note...
c:\rlfossil\rlfossil 0 1 "f:\fd.bat"

Yeah, this works perfectly !!

I am loading up Telegard, but at random moments the BBS doesnt receive the input from the caller. After a while it works again, sometimes when locally input is given or when I go into config mode of the terminal program. I am using Netrunner.

Anyone recognizes these problems ?

I already tried the config options in Netrunner like mouse off, local echo off etc. But that doesn't seem to help.

gTX!
SPi

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 2022/07/15 (Linux/64)
* Origin: -.sNd!GRDn.- (21:1/116)

I am loading up Telegard, but at random moments the BBS doesnt receive the input from the caller. After a while it works again, sometimes when locally input is given or when I go into config mode of the terminal program. I am using Netrunner.

Can't say I've run into that. Might be worth looking at the wattcp.cfg file though and try forcing the handshake to telnet. HANDSHAKE=2

Spec


*** THE READER V4.50 [freeware]
--- SuperBBS v1.17-3 (Eval)
* Origin: A camel is a horse designed by a committee. (21:3/101)

On 30 Aug 2022, Nightfox said the following...

Re: Tiny BBS for DOS?
By: MissChief to All on Tue Aug 30 2022 06:56 am

Does anyone know of really small BBS software for DOS? Something that run off a floppy, and maybe even support FTN?

I don't know, but one thing I thought of was that Telix (terminal emulator) has a small host mode which does something similar to a BBS, though it's not a full BBS packge by any means. I wonder if that would
be small enough to run on a floppy disk.

That is write Telix has a bbs mode. I think procom also does. Not sure about telemate.
But I think you will need the full version of Telix.

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