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Post by Leif Bloomquist on Mar 20, 2004 16:25:23 GMT -5
;D Great news! I set up a Centipede BBS on a friend's Commodore 128, and it works very well. I'm using my Telnet BBS Server 0.9b with no modifications. Jeff (Microman), I recommend you try this version. The BBS Screenshot of the PC. As you can see, the BBS looks awesome with CGTerm in 80 columns! Also works well with Hyperterminal or even the DOS telnet in Windows 2000. Photo of the BBS itself at more or less the same instant. I'll post settings etc. later this afternoon. But call it yourself and see:- telnet://209.151.141.59
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Post by Leif Bloomquist on Mar 20, 2004 19:55:10 GMT -5
As promised, the settings. Check out the config file in this ZIP. You should also grab this version of the software as it fixes some bugs. home.ica.net/~leifb/bbs/BBSServer09b.zipHere's the Centipede Modem Settings screen. Note that I also used the "Learn Carrier Type" command.
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Post by Dr. Video/ADDiXiON on Mar 22, 2004 12:47:48 GMT -5
YES! Leif you da man! Dammit I wish I had been the one to figure this out, but I've had 0 time for about a month now. I will be sure to give this a go this week, I've been irritated looking at my idle equipment!
Thanks much! Jeff
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Post by Jeff Ledger on Mar 22, 2004 22:13:15 GMT -5
Awesome!!
Any chance you could crank out a couple .d64 images of Centipede 128?
Jeff
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Post by Leif Bloomquist on Mar 22, 2004 22:54:44 GMT -5
Awesome!! Any chance you could crank out a couple .d64 images of Centipede 128? Jeff Sure thing. But it's really easy to set up once you actually are able to display the manual. The included manual reader was locking up on VICE, but Star Commander let me look at the content OK. I already have the setup as a .D81 though, since I set it up on VICE and then copied it over to a real disk. Would a .D81 suffice?
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Post by Jeff Hall on Mar 23, 2004 0:34:42 GMT -5
I am delighted to report I have FINALLY HAD SUCCESS! Tonight I used CG Term 1.6 to go out to the internet to my router and tunnel in to Centipede via Leif's BBS Server.
I want to thank Leif for all his hard work and dedication to this niche hobby of ours.
Now begins the really fun part, crafting my board and setting up a web site for it. I'll be selecting a dynamic IP hosting service in the next few days so the BBS will have a constant presence on the net.
The BBS will go live before I even think about what the website will look like, I don't want to work on that until the BBS has steady callers...gonna promote the h*** out of it, so expect a lot of busy signals! (Hey maybe CGTerm can play a busy signal .WAV file in a future relase hehehe)
I'll open the BBS up for beta testing in a few days hopefully, I'll post the addy here and let you guys hammer on it before I make a general announcement to the newsgroups.
Yay!
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Post by Leif Bloomquist on Mar 23, 2004 10:55:35 GMT -5
The BBS will go live before I even think about what the website will look like, I don't want to work on that until the BBS has steady callers...gonna promote the h*** out of it, so expect a lot of busy signals! Hi Jeff, that's great news! I'm so relieved we got it to work. Don't go overboard on the website, remember that the focus should be on the BBS. Just have a website saying what the BBS is and how to get to it. Also, if it gets very busy - you can always set up a second node (requiring another 128). I read a about how Centipede can act as a two-node system with a LT Kernal drive. Pretty neat. BBS Server can run multiple instances simultaneously, by listening on different Telnet ports and connecting to different COM ports.
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Post by Jeff Ledger on Mar 23, 2004 12:16:06 GMT -5
I already have the setup as a .D81 though, since I set it up on VICE and then copied it over to a real disk. Would a .D81 suffice? That's perfect! I can convert! Jeff
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Post by Jeff Hall on Mar 23, 2004 13:03:09 GMT -5
I managed to get Centipede to think it was the year 2000, but I can't get it to be 2001,2002,2003, or 2004. I've been exchanging emails with Mike Marting (caretaker of Centipede). He claims the Y2K patch works, you just have to do a BBS reset each time New Years rolls over, but I haven't figured out the right sequence of reset/set time/do midnight reset. It thinks 2004 is 2040 and 2001 is 2010. That makes me think the Y2K patch has a little bug!
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Post by Leif Bloomquist on Mar 23, 2004 18:38:39 GMT -5
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Post by Jim Brain on Mar 26, 2004 1:23:13 GMT -5
I was able to independently get Centipede 128 up via a user port interface, and I also got it running via Swiftlink cartridge at 38400 (I had a screen shot, but lost it).
A couple items to note:
If you use a regular null modem cable with the User port interface, you either need to disable RTS/CTS flow control, or switch RTS/CTS from being cross coupled to being looped back. Fo some reason, Centipede leaves RTS low when using the user port. If hardware flow control is on, the PC will dutifully set it's RTS low (which sets CTS low on the 64, and it won't accept characters.
Also, as with most BBS systems, if you use a regular null modem cable and want to use a Swiftlink, you'll need to disconnect the connection from PC DTR to 64 DSR. Leave the DTR->DCD connection. Loop the 64 DSR input over to 64 DTR pin. Otherwise, DSR is low until a call comes in, and the 6551 UART will not accept input unless DSR is high.
So, life is good. I also now have a pretty good null modem adapter (with some switches) that covers pretty much all of the variation I have seen thus far.
Jim
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Post by Jim Brain on Mar 26, 2004 1:26:54 GMT -5
Oh yes, one other note. If you want to run the Swiftlink on a BBS, you HAVE to unplug your user port interface. It'll probably never happen to anyone, but I chased down an issue for 2 hours tonight before I got wise enough to unplug my user port interface. Fixed.
I have no idea why...
Jim
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Post by Jim Brain on Mar 26, 2004 1:43:13 GMT -5
A couple more pieces of trivia:
The "Use Off-Hook commands" in BBS-setup means that Centipede will do ATH1 commands while it is writing the logs or something. But, since my code goes off-hook as per H1, it stays off hook (Cent never drops DTR or anything to allow the modem to come back on-hook.) Dunno. Maybe someone else can explain. In any case, I turned that off...
Also, when a call is over, my trace shows:
0e 02 10 02 1c 1e 0d
The last one is CR, but the others escape me at the moment. Happens at the end of all calls. Not sure what it is.
Jim
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Post by Jeff Hall on Mar 26, 2004 11:36:27 GMT -5
Well no go for me @ 4800 BPS. I was losing characters and some times the whole connection would lock up. It seemed to work with software flow control turned on at the port (windows device manager), but you had to type very slowly.
Runs like a pro at 2400 w/ no flow control though.
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Post by Dr. Video/ADDiXiON on Mar 29, 2004 12:29:26 GMT -5
I had intended on patching the Y2K bug in Centipede this weekend, but my Dad came in from out of town so I had other priorities. The bug has to do with setting the date manually, as opposed to reading it from a CMD device with a real-time clock. I never really learned BASIC, but I listed out the mdl.date&time code. Like any complex BASIC program, it's complete spaghetti on first glance. It's going to take me a few hours to analyze how it's taking a number like 2004 and making it 2040. I found a line of code that says something like : if a<59 then a=a+1999 else a=a+2000I haven't figured out where the magic number 59 is coming from yet. Mike Martin said he'd look into this bug, but haven't heard back from him for a few days. I don't want to put the board up until I've resolved this annoying Y2K thing. I hate reading posts dated 1990!
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