- bbs-revival - lists.osmocom.org

Retronetworking exhibit @ VCFB 2022: Help wanted
by Harald Welte 25 Jun '22

25 Jun '22

Hi all, Vintage Computing Festival Berlin 2022 is scheduled for October 8+9, 2022 It would be great to put together an exhibit there, re-using the small rack based setup that was at the 2019 CCC congress (Auerswald PBX, Freeswitch, Portmaster3) as well as a number of modems / ISDN-TA etc. to show BBS dial-up and the like. I have all the equipment and can work on the preparation/setup, but I think it would be very helpful if this was not a one-man show but if somebody would be around to help particularly on-site when there are visitors looking for demo, explanation, help, ... Registration deadline is September 7, as indicated at https://vcfb.de/2022/call_for_participation.htm Before we go into what we could/should demo, I would like to get a feeling if anyone is interested in helping out. Related redmine issue: https://osmocom.org/issues/5590 -- - Harald Welte <laforge(a)gnumonks.org> http://laforge.gnumonks.org/ ============================================================================ "Privacy in residential applications is a desirable marketing option." (ETSI EN 300 175-7 Ch. A6)

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projector for you
by Simon Allen 18 Jun '22

18 Jun '22

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30-minute flight time
by Leo Bryan 16 Jun '22

16 Jun '22

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LAST NOTIFICATION...!
by Sheik 14 Jun '22

14 Jun '22

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LAST NOTIFICATION...!
by Sheik 14 Jun '22

14 Jun '22

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ZOZHI hollow shaft motor
by zozhi motor 22 Dec '21

22 Dec '21

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Hi!
by David Lutz 01 Jun '21

01 Jun '21

Hi! Has anyone tried fiddling around with sl-modemd yet? (https://web.archive.org/web/20071014010737/http://linmodems.technion.ac.il/… <https://web.archive.org/web/20071014010737/http://linmodems.technion.ac.il/…>) I know, it's not free and uses binary blobs for the DSP part, but it's a full-fledged V.90 softmodem. Theoretically shouldn't it be possible to modify the sources to not use ALSA for communicating with the AC97 "modem" hardware but to use an Asterisk channel instead? I have fiddled around with asterisk-softmodem for quite some time now, (that's how I stumbled upon this mailing list while googling) and just can't get it to work properly. My intentions were the same, being able to provide a couple of analog phone lines on vintage computing events for dialup to BBSes or PPP Internet access. I was pleased to find someone else apparently had the same idea :) Regards David Lutz (Twitter: @kpanic)

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VoIP Modem and Wardialer for the 2020
by Fabio Pietrosanti (naif) 06 Jan '20

06 Jan '20

Hello, yesterday we (myself and Guido Flandero/KHS9NE) have released "A Voip Wardialer for the phreaking of 2020 "https://github.com/x25today/voipwardialer . <https://github.com/x25today/voipwardialer> The main goal of the project is to have a fully working software-only VoIP-Modem that can be used for wardialing, dialing a favorite BBS running on Landline number and more. The design is a bit "creative" but it's done a way to make the "Software DSP" issue pluggable and remote (now Asterisk-Softmodem connected to a local asterisk). It's a Python PJSIP application that call the target phone number via a VoIP provider, then call the local asterisk with Asterisk-Softmodem is running, then provide a Terminal. All this flow is working as MVP, would you enjoy playing with it with the many improvements needed https://github.com/x25today/voipwardialer/issues :) -naif

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Sumamry of 36C3 activities / next steps
by Harald Welte 02 Jan '20

02 Jan '20

Dear all, it was a lot of last-minute stress, but in the end I was able to present a very well working dial-up setup at 36C3. You can find more information about what was presented at * Summary news post: https://osmocom.org/news/121 * 36C3 wiki page: https://osmocom.org/projects/retro-bbs/wiki/36C3 * https://osmocom.org/projects/retro-bbs/wiki/Dialup_Network_In_A_Box Contrary to earlier plans, the main focus in this first installation was the physical / telephony setup, and we didn't actualyl operate any BBSs on-site but merely terminated Modem calls in the Portmaster and forwarded those via telnet to remote (public and 36C3 specific) BBS installations. But now as that is working, the setup will remain the same and I can try to spend some more time on software / protocols. I still want to run at least one Synchronet and one Mystic BBS in Linux containers, as well as one Zerberus instance in a qemu-kvm. The related containers/VMs exist, but need to be connected with the outside world and fully configured. At future events I then hope to be able to demo ZConnect and FTN style networks, with a QWK reader and CrossPoint on the client/PC side. As empty BBSs are of course quite boring, it would be good to get at least one of them set up rather soon and then start to actually fill it with messages. One idea would be to gate the osmocom.org mailing lists, but of course one can also join at least some of those FTN networks that still exist today, which should at least fill some message areas over time. If anyone wants to help out, help is - as always - much appreciated. I can host some VMs/containers on public IP addresses, as needed. The main two areas requiring help are, AFAICT: * set-up of several BBSs, including connectivity to FTN networks * set-up and test of QWK and point software * improved qemu/telnet integration (https://osmocom.org/issues/4341) Regards, Harald -- - Harald Welte <laforge(a)gnumonks.org> http://laforge.gnumonks.org/ ============================================================================ "Privacy in residential applications is a desirable marketing option." (ETSI EN 300 175-7 Ch. A6)

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Plans for #36C3 / Status Report
by Harald Welte 25 Oct '19

25 Oct '19

Dear all, sorry for the long absence. I've been distracted during the past year by too much work (both dayjob, as well as many FOSS projects) and by tons of renovation related work in my house. In any case, I finally found sime time to work on at least some of the TODO items in thsi project. I'll spare you the details (some are in the wiki and related tickets). The high level goals remain: Have a portable setup consisting of: * a PBX and reasonable numer of both analog and ISDN ports * a Livingston PM3 RAS to avoid tons of individual modems and multiport serial boards on the BBS side * set up at least a few BBSs that users can explore * a collection of physical modems, ISDN TA, and all related accessories (phone line cables, RS232 cables, adapters, etc.) that users can borrow The idea then is that at the event (36C3 will be at least the first one) people can come to the "retro BBS assembly" or whatever it will be called, and connect using terminal programs and modems/TAs which they can borrow on-site, or of course bring any old equipment they may still have. My status is as follows: * physical PBX setup (wiring, etc) is complete (16x analog,8x S0,8x Up0) * PBX configuration is complete * Livingston PM3 is configured * Synchronet BBS (one of the few BBS packages that are both FOSS and actively maintained) has been set up in a lxc container ** telnet access works ** modem access via mgetty works ** modem access via SEXPOTS works In parallel, a crew around the old BIONIC BBS has been reviving Zerberus from the dead. I'm not up to speed in terms of their detailed status, but at the very least, there's a Zerberus VM Image based on FreeDOS which works, even with real analog modems handed into the VM (I just tested it this weekend). My current work areas are: * Linux SoftPBX with multiple E1 interfaces (probably FreeSWITCH with one or two QuadE1 boards, as LCR doesn't support DAHDI boards, and HFC-E1 boards mostly only have one port per PCI slot). This SoftPBX is going to be the switch between the Portmaster and the Auerswald PBX, as well as possibly more other PBXs in the future * Get my Synchronet BBS connected to at least DOVE-Net, maybe even FidoNet to populate Message Arease with Echomail before 36C3 * Test PM3->telnet->SynchroNet * If there's time, play with other current Linux BBS software such as Mystic BBS If anyone wants to join this setup at 36C3, by all means, please do so. I could envision at least the following forms of contribution: 1) Run your own BBS. If you want to set up another BBS (or revive and old one from a backup), by all means! I can hook you up either via analog lines or S0-busses, or even only via telnet/rlogin from the Portmaster. 2) Bring client-side systems. That could be anything from a serial terminal [which we can hook up to a modem], or some vintage computer (any flavor) with terminal software [which we can hook up to a modem]. 3) Help on-site e.g. build-up and teardown, but also during the event to give support to users who show up and want to set up their Laptop with a terminal program and one of the modems and log onto the BBSs Crazy future goals (beyond 36C3): * I actually bought four STM-1 add/drop multiplexers with 16 E1 ports each. This would allow us to build a more distributed setup with PBXs at different sites and fiber connections between them. Why not have a SDH backbone at future CCC events :) * Get back to the idea of improving the FOSS VoIP-Softmodem situation to enable more people to use dial-up without any actual hardware requirement. Looking forward to any feedback. Regards, Harald -- - Harald Welte <laforge(a)gnumonks.org> http://laforge.gnumonks.org/ ============================================================================ "Privacy in residential applications is a desirable marketing option." (ETSI EN 300 175-7 Ch. A6)

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